Trump tariffs stay: Asian markets plummet additional with Hong Kong shares down nearly 10%
Asian markets plummeted again on Monday as fears of a global trade war led investors to ramp up bets on the risk of recession.
Monday’s rout extends a two-day selloff that wiped trillions of dollars from equity values after US president Donald Trump‘s administration announced sweeping tariffs last week.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slumped more than 10 per cent in morning trade which, if sustained, would make for the benchmark’s largest daily fall since the 2008 global financial crisis.
China‘s CSI300 blue-chip index fell more than 5 per cent with selling in nearly every sector, while China’s yuan slipped to its lowest value since January and bonds rallied sharply. Beijing is facing a combined 54 per cent tariffs on US exports, and announced retaliatory measures on Friday – which was a public holiday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index plunged nearly 9 per cent after market opened in Tokyo. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped more than 6 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi lost 4.4 per cent.
Sir Keir Starmer said the “world as we knew it has gone” in the wake of Mr Trump tariffs.
‘Trump not trying to crash the stock market’, says White House chief
President Donald Trump is not intentionally trying to crash the stock market, the White House national economic council director Kevin Hassett has said.
Speaking on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Mr Hassett said the stock market crash following Mr Trump’s tariff announcement was “not a strategy”.
He was questioned about it after Mr Trump shared a video on social media platform Truth Social that claimed the president was causing the markets to plummet as part of a larger economic plan.
Mr Hassett insisted: “He’s not trying to tank the market. He’s trying to deliver for American workers. It’s not a strategy for the markets to crash”.
Japan halts trading as Nikkei dives nearly 8%
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost nearly 8 per cent shortly after the market opened today.
By midday, it was down 7.2 per cent at 31,337.76.
A circuit breaker briefly suspended trading of Topix (Tokyo Stock Price Index) futures after an earlier sharp fall in US futures. A circuit breaker is a safety mechanism that is used to halt trade when the stock market experiences fluctuations.
Among the biggest losers was Mizuho Financial Group, whose shares sank 11.4 per cent. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s stock lost 10.7 per cent as investors panicked over how the trade war may affect the global economy.
Trump tariffs could slow European growth by up to 1%
US president Donald Trump’s tariff measures could slow euro area economic growth by anywhere between 0.5 and 1 percentage points, Greek central bank governor Yannis Stournaras said.
Mr Stournaras’ comments come against the backdrop of European Union countries weighing approval of a first set of targeted countermeasures on up to $28bn of US imports, covering products ranging from dental floss to diamonds, in the coming days.
The 27-nation bloc faces 25 per cent import tariffs on steel and aluminium and cars and “reciprocal” tariffs of 20 per cent from Wednesday for almost all other goods.In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Stournaras warned that the looming global trade war risk sparking a large “negative demand shock” in the eurozone that could weigh heavily on Europe’s economic growth.
“A notable adverse impact on growth could lead to activity being much weaker than expected, dragging inflation below our targets,” he said.
Sir Keir agrees with new Canada PM trade war ‘in no-one’s interest’
A Downing Street spokesperson said:“The Prime Minister spoke to the Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney this evening.
“They discussed their commitment to working together to maintain global economic stability in the wake of the announcement from the United States this week.
“An all-out trade war is in no-one’s interest, they agreed.
“Both agreed on the importance of free and open trade between like-minded nations, and the Prime Minister stated that trading blocs such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership will be important in this new global era.
“Prime Minister Carney thanked the Prime Minister for his leadership on Ukraine and reaffirmed his commitment to Canada playing a role in the Coalition of the Willing.
“Looking ahead, the Prime Minister said he was looking forward to travelling to Canada for the G7 Summit in June. They agreed to stay in close contact.”
India looks to fast US trade deal to resolve tariffs
India does not plan to retaliate against US president Donald Trump’s 26 per cent tariff on imports from the Asian nation, an Indian government official said, citing ongoing talks for a deal between the countries.
Prime minister Narendra Modi’s administration has looked into a clause of Trump’s tariff order that offers a possible reprieve for trading partners who “take significant steps to remedy non-reciprocal trade arrangements”, the official told Reuters.
New Delhi sees an advantage in being one of the first nations to have started talks over a trade deal with Washington, and is better placed than Asian peers like China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, which have been hit by higher US tariffs.
Taiwan won’t retaliate with tariffs, says leader
Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te said this morning that the island does not seek to impose retaliatory tariffs against the US.
“Instead, we’ll start talking from bilateral ‘zero tariffs’,” said on X. “To ensure Taiwan’s competitiveness, we’ll increase US imports and adopt other measures. Working together, we’ll usher in a golden age of shared prosperity.”
US president Donald Trump last week imposed a 32 per cent imports duty on Taiwan, which has caused a big sell-off in markets this morning – Taiwan was observing a public holiday on Thursday and Friday so trading was closed.
Taiwan’s benchmark index has now dropped to its lowest level in more than a year and was poised for its biggest one-day percentage drop since at least 1990, LSEG data showed.
China, the EU and Canada have said they plan to retaliate with their own tariffs on US products. Beijing, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, has already announced its own 34 per cent reciprocal tariffs on US goods.
India’s stock market plummets
India’s Nifty50 and Sensex indices crashed to 9-month lows, dropping around 5 per cent during opening trade this morning.
IT companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the US, collectively lost around 7 per cent.
The broader small-caps and mid-caps lost 6.2 per cent and 4.6 per cent respectively.
Over 50 nations negotiating with US, say Trump advisers
US president Donald Trump’s top economic advisers have sought to portray the tariffs as a savvy repositioning of the US in the global trade order.
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said more than 50 nations had started negotiations with the US since Mr Trump imposed tariffs on dozens of countries last Wednesday.
Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said on CBS News that the tariffs would remain in place “for days and weeks”.
