Asian markets, the first to open since President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement, have seen big slides as investors react to a trade war poised to erupt.
Major Asian indexes all saw heavy losses throughout the day’s trade as The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell more than 2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.7%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was 2.8% lower, South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 3% and Australia’s ASX 200 fell 1.9%.
Markets in mainland China have remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, but with China being singled out for a 10% tariff on exports we can expect to see a similar downturn.
Currently, Beijing has not announced a plan of economic retaliation. Instead there have been calls to “meet China halfway” from the Chinese ministry of Commerce in negotiations around the upcoming implementation of duties.
Some of the biggest sectors to see downturns from the tariffs include:
Automakers saw shares drop of at least 5% in household names such as Toyota (TM), Honda (HMC) and Nissan (7201.T)
Chinese e-commerce platforms are under fire as the “de minimus” trade exemption for small package is getting expired. Leading to impacts on costs for clothing, accessories, home goods and electronics.
Asia’s biggest chip exporters, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSM) . and Samsung Electronics Co (005930.KS)., dipped by 1% as Trump said he would tax the essential components of electronics.