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US stocks closed lower Wednesday as President Trump prepared to unveil new tariffs on US auto imports.

The benchmark S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) was down more than 1.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI ) fell about 0.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC ) led the losses, sliding over 2%. Tech leaders Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Tesla ( TSLA ) both closed down more than 5%.

Stocks are on shifting sands as markets respond to changes in tone from Trump on coming tariffs. The White House press secretary said Wednesday that Trump would hold a press conference at 4 p.m. ET to announce new tariffs on auto imports, hitting Tesla and other auto stocks like GM ( GM ) and Ford ( F ).

Meanwhile, Wall Street is focused on how "flexible" Trump will be in the reciprocal duties set to take effect on April 2 .

In another tone shift, Trump told Newsmax on Tuesday that he "doesn't want to have too many exceptions" to the levies — a potential swing back to the hard line seen earlier in March. Those threats directed at the EU and Canada fueled a sell-off that pushed the S&P 500 into correction territory .

Read more: The latest on Trump's tariffs

Also, the White House appears to be accelerating its plans for copper levies. Tariffs on copper imports could be coming within several weeks , months ahead of a deadline for implementing the measures, Bloomberg reported. Copper ( HG=F ) prices surged to a record on the heels of the news.

In corporates, GameStop ( GME ) stock jumped over 11% after the video game retailer's approval of a plan to buy bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) with its cash holdings.

In other economic news, orders for durable goods came in stronger than expected in February, data released Wednesday showed. The 0.9% rise topped expectations for a drop of 1% but undershot January's 3.3% reading.