Asia-Pacific markets opened lower on Monday as investors reacted to United States President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on key trading partners over the weekend.
On Saturday, Trump signed an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada and a 10% levy on Chinese goods. Canadian energy exports were granted a reduced tariff rate of 10%, with all measures set to take effect on Tuesday.
By 10:35 am AEDT (11:35 pm GMT), the ASX 200 in Australia declined 1.8%, South Korea’s Kospi 200 dropped 2.8%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 2.3%.
Chinese markets were closed for the Lunar New Year public holiday.
Among data releases, Australian retail sales for December eased 0.1%, better than the expected 0.7% decline, while building approvals increased 0.7% following a 3.4% drop the previous month.
Last Friday in the U.S., the three major indices ended the session lower. The S&P 500 declined 0.5% to 6,040.5, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 337.5 points, or 0.8%, closing at 44,544.7. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.3% to 19,627.4.
Elsewhere, India’s BSE SENSEX ended unchanged at 77,506.
In Europe, market performance was mixed; Germany’s DAX held steady at 21,732.1, while France’s CAC 40 edged up 0.1% to 7,950.2. In the U.K., the FTSE 100 gained 0.3% to close at 8,674.
