Benchmark indexes in China, Germany and France all dropped, with the S&P 500 falling 1.2 percent. American crude oil prices were down more than 5 percent, amid growing concern that the trade war would start to drag on global economic demand. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.29 percent at 3 p.m., according to Bloomberg data. That was its lowest closing level this year and a sign that investors were expecting lower levels of growth and inflation.

Hopes for a quick resolution to the China trade fight have faded, with both countries hardening their positions after a trade deal collapsed this month. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that no additional meetings with Beijing were scheduled and that he was encouraging American firms to reorient their supply chains and source their products elsewhere.

Progress toward a trade agreement between the United States and China collapsed after American negotiators accused Beijing of reneging on terms it had previously committed to. Significant differences remain over how tariffs should be rolled back between the countries, and whether the negotiated provisions must be enshrined in Chinese law.

While both sides initially suggested they would continue talking, Beijing has also begun bracing for a long trade fight. In a defiant statement this week, China’s president, Xi Jinping, called for the Chinese people to begin a modern “long march,” invoking a time of hardship from the country’s history, which many China watchers viewed as a hardening of Beijing’s trade stance.

“I am growing more and more skeptical that there is a place where the two sides can come to a deal,” said Edward Alden, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “If I look at the positions the two sides have taken at the moment, I do not see a path to a deal.”