Stocks in the Asia-Pacific region tumbled in early trade after US President-elect Donald Trump vowed to impose fresh tariffs on China and US’ border countries, Mexico and Canada.
Equity benchmarks in Japan and South Korea led the decline during the session’s opening. The Nikkei was 334 points, or 0.86%, lower at 38,541, while the S&P ASX 200 was down 29 points, or 0.34%, at 8,388 as of 5:45 a.m.
Trump said on his Truth Social network that he would impose an additional 10% tariff on goods from China and 25% on all products from Mexico and Canada. This measure was to cut down migrants and illegal drugs flowing across US borders, he said.
Trump justified this tariff hike in China as the South Asian country failed to follow through on promises to institute the death penalty for traffickers of fentanyl. “Drugs are pouring into our Country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before.”
He said that he would sign an executive order on his first day in office to impose a 25% tariff on “all products” from Mexico and Canada.
China’s benchmark indices will be closely watched out for after this new threat from its Western counterpart after the CSI 300 closed 0.46% lower on Monday.
