Dow dives more than 550 points on fears of trade war

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average diving 572 points to 23,932 on fears of a possible trade war with China and rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.

Friday's decline of 2.32 percent ended the Dow's three-day winning streak. The blue chip index is down 0.7 percent for the week. The Dow had lost 800 points at one point in the trading session.

The S&P 500 fell 2.19 percent to 2,604. The Nasdaq declined 2.28 percent to 6,915.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told CNBC on Friday that there was a "potential" for a trade war with China, adding that he was "cautiously optimistic that we will be able to work this out."

"Our objective is still not to be in a trade war with [China]," Mnuchin said.