Asian markets plunge after China’s retaliation to Trump’s tariffs’ – Go Health Pro

Asian markets collapsed Monday, April 7, after China hammered the United States with its own hefty tariffs, ramping up a trade war that many fear could spark a recession.

Trading floors were overcome by a wave of selling as investors fled to the hills on the worst day for equities since the pandemic, with Hong Kong shedding more than 10%, Tokyo diving 8%, Taipei losing more than 9% and South Korean stocks tumbling over 5%.

Trump’s tariff offensive has sparked a global stock market rout, raising fears of a broader trade war and recession.

Futures for Wall Street’s markets were also taking another hammering, while concerns about the impact on demand also saw commodities slump.

‘Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,’ Trump says

Donald Trump sparked a market meltdown last week when he unveiled sweeping tariffs against US trading partners for what he says was years of being ripped off and claiming that governments were lining up to cut deals with Washington.

But after Asian markets closed on Friday, China said it would impose retaliatory levies of 34% on all US goods from April 10. It also imposed export controls on seven rare earth elements, including gadolinium − commonly used in MRIs − and yttrium, utilised in consumer electronics.

Hopes that the US president would rethink his policy in light of the turmoil were dashed Sunday when he said he would not make a deal with other countries unless trade deficits were solved. He denied that he was intentionally engineering a selloff and insisted he could not foresee market reactions. “Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said of the ructions that have wiped trillions of dollars off company valuations.

Oil prices sink more than 3%

The selling in Asia was across the board, with no sector unharmed by the savage selling − tech firms, car makers, banks, casinos and energy firms all felt the pain as investors abandoned riskier assets.

Among the biggest losers, Chinese e-commerce titans Alibaba and JD.com tanked more than 11%, while Japanese tech investment giant SoftBank dived more than 10%.

Shanghai shed more than 5% and Singapore more than 6%, while Seoul gave up more than 5% triggering a so-called sidecar mechanism − for the first time in eight months − that briefly halted some trading.

Concerns about demand saw oil prices sink more than 3% Monday, having dropped around seven% Friday. Both main contracts are now sitting at their lowest levels since 2021.

Copper − a vital component for energy storage, electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines − also extended losses.

“The market is in free-fall mode again, punching through floors,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management. “Trump’s team isn’t blinking. The tariffs are being treated as a victory lap, not a bargaining chip.”