The dollar slumped by as much as 2.6 percent versus the euro, its biggest intraday plunge in a decade, and suffered sharp losses also against the yen and British pound.
On stock markets, Wall Street’s main indices opened sharply lower, with the Nasdaq falling more than four percent.
“The simultaneous decline in both stocks and the US dollar speaks volumes about investor confidence in Trump’s trade policy,” said City Index and FOREX.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada.
Shares in apparel companies, which rely on cheap labour in factories abroad, with Nike sinking 11 percent and Gap shedding 15 percent.
Across the globe, shares in major sectors including auto, luxury and banking also took big hits.
Tokyo’s Nikkei briefly collapsed by more than four percent, and the Paris stock market led losses in Europe as it fell over three percent.
Oil prices plummeted around seven percent to under US$70 per barrel as an economic downturn would hit demand.
Gold, a safe haven asset in times of uncertainty, hit a new peak of US$3,167.84 an ounce.
Yields on government bonds, another haven investment, fell as investors fled risky assets. (AFP)
