BANGKOK — Shares retreated Friday in Asia, with benchmarks in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea tumbling more than 2% as U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to push ahead with 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada and to double tariffs on Chinese products to 20% left investors reeling.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 2.9% to 37,155.50, pulled lower by plunging prices for shares in technology companies. Computer chip test equipment maker Advantest sank 8.8%, Disco Corp., another equipment maker, lost 10.3% and Tokyo Electron shed 4.5%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 3.4% to 22,905.52, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 2% to 3,320.90.
Trump said Thursday that “the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled” for imports from Canada and Mexico.
China’s Commerce Ministry issued a statement Friday protesting Trump’s decision to raise tariffs on imports from China by 10%, saying it violated international trade rules and would add to the “burden on American companies and consumers and undermine the stability of the global industrial chain.”
South Korea’s Kospi gave up 3.4% to 2,532.78.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.2% to 8,172.40.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 sank 1.6% to 5,861.57 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4% to 43,239.50. The Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.8% to 18,544.42.
The S&P 500 has fallen five out of the past six trading sessions after setting an all-time high last week. Concerns about the U.S. economic outlook have been behind much of the drop, including worries over how tariffs could worsen inflation and mass layoffs of government workers could increase unemployment.
Superstar stock Nvidia, one of Wall Street’s most influential companies that’s been leading the market for years, lost 8.5% after initially rising at the open of trading following a better-than-expected profit report.
Better-than-expected earnings reports have become routine for Nvidia, whose chips are powering the surge into artificial-intelligence technology, but this was the company’s first since China’s DeepSeek shook the entire AI industry by saying it has a large language model that can compete with the world’s best without using the most expensive chips.
A 1.7% rise for Berkshire Hathaway, the company run by famed investor Warren Buffett, was one of the strongest upward forces on the index. The owner of Geico, BNSF railroad and other businesses has built a hoard of unused cash recently. That could indicate Buffett, who’s famous for buying stocks when prices are low, may not see much worth purchasing in a market that critics say looks too expensive.
All the talk on tariffs has left U.S. households more nervous about the economy. That’s dangerous because their strong spending has been a main reason the U.S. economy has avoided a recession.
Such uncertainty also pressures the Federal Reserve, which has few if any tools to help an economy where growth is slowing and inflation is rising at the same time.
For now, at least, the U.S. economy appears to be in solid shape. The government on Thursday left alone its estimate for the U.S. economy’s performance during the last three months of 2024, though it raised its estimate for a measure of inflation during the quarter.
A separate report said more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. While the number is at a three-month high, it’s still nowhere close to where it’s been in past recessions.
In other trading early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 61 cents to $69.74 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, handed back 57 cents, to $73.00 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 150.03 Japanese yen from 149.82 yen late Thursday. The euro slipped to $1.0390 from $1.0401.
