Asian Markets Plunge Amid Escalating US-China Trade Tensions
Asian markets collapsed this morning in the wake of Friday’s sharp selloff on Wall Street, triggered by Donald Trump’s latest tariff increases and retaliatory measures from Beijing.
In Japan, the Nikkei index fell 6.5%, having dropped nearly 8% during early trading. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index plummeted close to 10%, while China’s Shanghai Composite declined by more than 4%.
Taiwan’s benchmark index sank nearly 10%, and Singapore’s fell by 8.5%.
US equity futures also declined on Sunday, as the Trump administration indicated it would press ahead with reciprocal tariffs scheduled for Liberation Day, despite growing concerns that the deepening trade war could push the US economy into recession.
S&P 500 futures dropped 3.6%, while Nasdaq contracts fell 4.4%, as investors braced for further volatility.
Despite the turmoil, President Trump defended the tariffs on Truth Social, stating they were generating “tens of billions of dollars” for the US and describing them as “a beautiful thing to behold.”
Commodities were also hit hard: oil prices fell over 3%, and copper futures plunged by 8%.
Safe-haven currencies strengthened, with the Japanese yen rising 1% to 145.41 per dollar, and the Swiss franc climbing 0.7%.
These sharp declines follow a brutal week for US markets, which experienced their worst performance since the COVID-19 pandemic, wiping out over $6 trillion (£4.7 trillion) in market value within days.
