WASHINGTON — Wall Street reacted negatively to sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports ordered by President Donald Trump, sending the Dow Jones Industrials Average down as much as 743 points.

By the closing bell, the Dow, led lower by names most likely to be impacted by a trade war, including Boeing and Caterpillar, was down 722 or 2.9 percent.

It was the Dows fifth-largest point loss ever.

Trump signed an order Thursday that paves the way for imposing tariffs on as much as $60 billion worth of Chinese imports to punish Beijing for what he said is the theft of American technology and Chinese pressure on U.S. companies to hand it over.