Stocks Sinking Deep Across The Globe As Trump's Tariff Hike Nears

Global markets are anticipating for a steep fall as US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariff will start to take effect from today 12:01 am EST onwards. Trump has slapped tariff hike on almost every country in the world, including a staggering 104 percentage on China. Trump administration said that “the phones have been ringing off the hook” as countries seek to negotiate with Washington on trade and tariffs.

Reportedly, nearly 70 countries have reached out looking to begin negotiations, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed.

Both US and Global markets are reportedly at the verge of a freefall. According to Asian Development Bank (ADB), the full implementation of US tariffs could cut developing Asia’s growth by about a third of a percentage point this year and nearly a full percentage point in 2026.

Also Read: Trump Threatens China With Further 50% Tariff Over Retaliation

The ADB projected that growth in developing Asia will ease slightly to 4.9% in 2025, the slowest pace since 2022, and slow further to 4.7% in 2026, from 5.0% in 2024, reported Reuters. The forecast was made before Trump introduced another sweeping import tariffs.

As per ADB, the developing Asia is made up of 46 Asia-Pacific countries stretching from Georgia to Samoa – and excludes countries such as Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

“On the flip side, stronger retaliation and further escalation could result in bigger impacts. Additionally, the size and speed of policy changes under the new US administration could reduce investment globally and in the region, while rising trade tensions and fragmentation would boost trade costs and disrupt global supply chains”, said ADB chief economist Albert Park, as quoted by media.

After another Wall Street wrapping up, global market plunged. Australia’s tens of billions of dollars of value were wiped off from the market over concerns the world’s two largest economies – US and China – are headed for a full-blown trade war.

The S&P/ASX 200 opened slightly lower, before plunging more than 2% a few minutes into the session, erasing the rebound of the previous day. By midday, the benchmark had recovered to the 7,435 point mark, representing a 1% fall for the session, reported The Guardian.

China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan shares fell. China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index opened down 1.2%, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.1%. China’s SmallCap 1000 Index was down more than 4%, reported Reuters. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng dropped 3.1%, and Taiwan’s share market fell 1.8% in early trade. Reportedly, Chinese state holding companies continued to support the stock market by increasing share investment, while a slew of listed firms announced share buybacks.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index initially lost nearly 4%. The S&P 500 (The Standard and Poor’s 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 leading companies listed on stock exchanges in US) dropped 1.6% after wiping out an early gain of 4.1%. That took it nearly 19% below its record set in February. The Dow Jones (a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in US) Industrial Average dropped 0.8%, while the Nasdaq (an American stock exchange based in New York City) composite lost 2.1%.

Also Read: “Tesla Is Going Down”: Did Musk Actually Cry To Trump?

South Korea’s currency won also fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 2009, while oil prices slumped 3% in early Asian trade, as per AFP report.

Trump also said that his administration is planning to announce a “major” tariff on pharmaceuticals “very shortly”. “We’re going to tariff our pharmaceuticals and once we do that they’re going to come rushing back into our country because we’re the big market”, he said.

Reportedly, Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk made several pushes to try to get the president to back down on his tariff war on other countries. The failure in his attempt is observed to be catalyst of the alleged growing rift between the US president and the world’s richest person.