Asian stock markets experienced a significant decline on Thursday following the announcement by US President Donald Trump of new reciprocal tariffs on several US trade partners. The tariffs, which range from 10% to 50%, were announced by Trump on April 2, a day he referred to as “Liberation Day.”
Under the new tariffs, China faces a 34% levy on its exports to the US, Japan will see a 24% tariff, India’s products will be taxed at 26%, and South Korea’s exports will incur a 25% charge. This move has sparked widespread condemnation from affected countries.
China's Commerce Ministry quickly criticized the tariffs, calling them “typical unilateral bullying” and signaling plans to implement countermeasures. A ministry spokesperson stated, “History shows that increasing tariffs cannot solve the United States' own problems. It harms US interests and endangers global economic development as well as industrial and supply chain stability.”
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba also expressed disappointment, describing the 24% tariff on Japanese goods as “extremely unfortunate.” Tokyo has urged Washington to reconsider the decision and may consider retaliatory measures in response.
The tariffs sent shockwaves through Asian markets, with the Japanese Nikkei 225 dropping 2.7% to 34,712. South Korea’s Kospi Index fell by 1.2% to 2,475, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.3% to 3,339. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 1.8% to 22,776, and India’s Sensex Index dropped 0.3% to 76,376.
Despite the market downturn, there were some positive signs in economic data from the region. Japan’s services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for March was 50, slightly above expectations, while its composite PMI stood at 48.9. China’s Caixin services PMI reached 51.9, exceeding forecasts, with its composite PMI standing at 51.8.
The latest round of tariffs is expected to further strain global trade relations and could contribute to increased volatility in international markets, particularly in Asia.
Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Maka Bochorishvili sought to reassure the public that there is “no danger” to Georgia’s status as the European Uni...
Dushanbe enters one of its busiest diplomatic weeks in recent times as it gears up to host the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) heads of state...
Germany will grant police the power to shoot down rogue drones like those that have disrupted airports across Europe and that some European leaders ha...
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev welcomed a Croatian delegation led by Gordan Jandroković, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, ma...
A new stage of economic transformation is under way in Karakalpakstan, where authorities have announced 27 large-scale projects worth nearly $2 billio...
Afghanistan’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, Nuruddin Azizi, met with Turkish envoy, Ambassador Cenk Ünal in Kabul on Sunday 5th October to discuss matters of mutual economic importance.
Iran and France indicated on Monday that talks on the release of two French citizens held in Iran in exchange for an Iranian national detained by France were progressing.
Indonesia on Friday (3 October) urged the European Union to immediately remove the countervailing and anti-dumping duties on its stainless steel products, after a World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel backed the Southeast Asian country.
The second day of the 13th meeting of the CICA Think Tank Forum, themed 'Resonance of Development and Security: Regional Cooperation and Governance in the Institutional Transformation of CICA,' continues with a series of panel discussions in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
Gold prices rose above $4,000 an ounce for the first time on Wednesday, fuelled by investor demand for safe-haven assets amid rising geopolitical tensions and expectations of U.S. interest rate cuts.
U.S. shares ended Tuesday in negative territory as investors, cut off from official economic data due to the ongoing government shutdown, looked to alternative indicators and comments from Federal Reserve officials for guidance on economic weakness and monetary policy.
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is targeting a $20 billion capital raise linked to Nvidia hardware, Bloomberg News has reported.
Türkiye’s benchmark stock index, the BIST 100, closed Tuesday at 10,814.11 points, up 0.74% from the previous session.
Euro zone finance ministers are set to meet on Thursday to explore ways to boost the development of euro-denominated stablecoins, amid concerns that the fast-growing market could remain dominated by the United States, a senior euro zone official said.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment