Asian shares sink as China-US trade war escalates; Nikkei dives 5.6%

Asian shares sank Friday after US stocks reversed much of their historic gains from the day before.

The deepening worries over President Donald Trump's trade war initially helped pull Japan's Nikkei 225 share index down 5.6 per cent.

By mid-morning in Tokyo, it was down 4.7 per cent at 32,969.95.

The yen surged against the US dollar, which also lost value against the euro.

One dollar bought 143.48 Japanese yen, down from about 146 yen a day earlier. The euro rose to $1.1305 from $1.1195.

South Korea's Kospi fell 1.6 per cent to 2,400.34, while in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 2.1 per cent to 7,552.10.

 

On Thursday, the S&P 500 tumbled 3.5 per cent, slicing into Wednesday's surge of 9.5 per cent following Trump's decision to pause many of his tariffs worldwide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,014 points, or 2.5 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 4.3 per cent.

But China announced more countermeasures against the United States and losses for US stocks accelerated after the White House clarified that the United States will tax Chinese imports at 145 per cent, not the 125 per cent rate that Trump had written about in his posting on Truth Social Wednesday, once other previously announced tariffs were included. The drop for the S&P 500 exceeded 6 per cent at one point.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 188.85 points Thursday to 5,268.05. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,014.79 to 39,593.66, and the Nasdaq composite sank 737.66 to 16,387.31.

Trump blinks, UBS strategist Bhanu Baweja wrote in a report about the president's decision on tariffs, but the damage isn't all undone.

China, meanwhile, has been seeking to join forces with other countries in apparent hopes of forming a united front against Trump. The world's second-largest economy is also ramping up its own countermeasures to Trump's tariffs.

The stock price of Warner Bros Discovery, the company behind A Minecraft Movie, dropped 12.5 per cent for one of Wall Street's sharpest losses after China said Thursday it will appropriately reduce the number of imported US films. The Walt Disney Co's stock sank 6.8 per cent  A spokesperson for the China Film Administration said it is inevitable that Chinese audiences would find American films less palatable given the wrong move by the US to wantonly implement tariffs on China.

That was after Trump and his Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, sent a clear message to other countries Wednesday after announcing their pause on tariffs for most countries: Do not retaliate, and you will be rewarded.

The European Union said Thursday it will put its trade retaliation measures on hold for 90 days and leave room for a negotiated solution.

Thursday's swings also hit the bond market, which has historically played the role of enforcer against politicians and economic policies it deemed imprudent. It helped topple the United Kingdom's Liz Truss in 2022, for example, whose 49 days made her Britain's shortest-serving prime minister.

Earlier this week, big jumps for US Treasury yields had rattled the market, so much that Trump said Wednesday he had been watching how investors were getting a little queasy.