Asian markets slumped on Tuesday after Donald Trump escalated tariffs on Chinese imports and confirmed that levies on Mexico and Canada would proceed as planned.
Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng led the declines, dropping more than 2% and 1.5%, respectively.
The sell-off followed the White House’s announcement that Trump had signed an executive order on Monday raising a previously imposed 10% tariff on Chinese goods to 20%.
The U.S. president also reaffirmed that Canada and Mexico would face 25% tariffs, triggering a sharp decline in U.S. stocks on Monday.
In response, Canada imposed 25% tariffs on $155 billion worth of American goods, while Beijing warned it would take countermeasures against the new U.S. tariffs.
On Wall Street, markets tumbled as Trump confirmed that the 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico would take effect Tuesday, with reciprocal measures starting April 2.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.9% to 42,997.96, the S&P 500 fell 2.2% to 5,822.95, and the Nasdaq Composite plunged 3.1% to 18,273.23.
In the bond market, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes declined to 4.165%, down from 4.229% on Friday.
