Major stock markets across Asia plummeted on Monday, compounding a global financial crisis triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes.
The most significant drop has been in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng Index ended 13.22% down, the largest drop since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The TAIEX index in Taipei has suffered its lowest drop on record, hitting 9.7%, the BBC reported, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged nearly 9%. The markets in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China were closed on Friday for a public holiday.
Trump unveiled his steeper-than-expected tariffs on goods imported to the U.S. from other nations last week. A baseline 10% tariff was imposed on dozens of countries. On April 9, a range of retaliatory tariffs is set to kick in, including 34% on imports from China (on top of the 20% already in place) and 20% on anything brought in from the European Union. Japan (24%), Taiwan (32%), and Vietnam (46%) are also in line to take a hard hit.
Economists had generally expected less harsh measures, and have forecast near-term increases in prices as companies pass along their increased expenses to consumers.
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The tariffs have wiped $6tn off US stocks, but Trump appeared nonchalant as he spoke to reporters late Sunday night on Air Force One.
“I don’t want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said.
Markets in Europe have also taken a battering, with Germany’s DAX opening down 9%, while London’s FTSE was around 5% lower, CNN reported.
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