Wall Street slips as industrials lag fearing the impact of trade tariff

Wall Street's main indexes gave up opening gains on Wednesday as industrial companies continued to suffer from concerns over the impact of new tariffs on trade.

Boeing fell nearly 2 per cent, turning the Dow Jones Industrial Average negative, with traders citing continuing fallout from reports on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump is seeking to impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese imports.

"The market is still trying to weigh concerns about tariffs on one hand and understanding how the President acts and how he speaks openly and comes up with a different policy in the end," said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist at SlateStone Wealth.

Major U.S. manufacturers have been the heaviest hit since Trump trailered and then announced tariffs on steel and aluminium imports earlier this month.