Asian Markets Slip as Trump Threatens Higher Tariffs
By Ritu
Asian markets fell in morning trade
on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to raise the tariffs
on Chinese goods even higher.
China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.4% by 10:30 PM ET (02:30 GMT),
while the SZSE Component was little changed.
Overnight, U.S. President Donald Trump he “will just raise the tariffs even
higher” if China does not make a trade deal.
The president has said late last week that China would like to have a rollback,
but he “has not agreed to anything.”
The news came as Bloomberg cited people familiar with the talks and reported
that China demanded that all tariffs imposed after May to be removed
immediately. Beijing also wanttariffs imposed before that be lifted gradually.
Contrary to Trump’s comment, the article noted that the White House is debating
internally to rollback certain percentage of tariff. The officials have
differing views, but the internal figure under discussion ranges from around
35% to 60%, Bloomberg said.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.7%. Tension in the city
intensified even further as the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill
supporting Hong Kong protesters, drawing criticism from China’s foreign
ministry.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped
0.9% after Ministry of Finance data showed the country’s exports fell
9.2% in October from a year ago, a bigger decline than the expected 7.6% drop.
Exports to China, Japan’s biggest trading partner, declined 10.3% year-on-year
in October.
South Korea’s KOSPI declined 1.0%.
Down under, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.3%.
