Decoding Bitcoin sells off as Donald Trump's tariffs take effect

Bitcoin has witnessed a decline of over 15 percent since February 3, when US President Donald Trump announced his decision to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. The digital asset was trading at around $86,400 on Wednesday (March 5). As per the Farside Investors data, more than $3.50 billion in assets have been withdrawn by investors from the Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) in the US since the tariffs were to Cointelegraph, here are few reasons why Trump’s tariffs have lead to selloffs in the Bitcoin market:Economic uncertaintyThe Donald Trump administration has imposed 10 percent tariffs on China and 25 percent on its neighbouring countries -- Canada and Mexico. In such scenarios, risk assets usually sell off. During Donald Trump's first term, a trade war with China led to a 800-point drop for Dow Jones in August 2019. However, back then the Bitcoin price increased since the traders in China utilised it to bypass capital controls, Cointelegraph taking note of these trends, the Chinese government at that time had increased crackdowns on Bitcoin trading. This time around, the situation is a bit different since Bitcoin behaves like a risk asset.