Any illusion of calm in Asia just got nuked. “Trump’s latest tariff tantrum hit like a macro wrecking ball, torching what was left of risk appetite and plunging markets back into full-blown panic mode,” an analyst said.
Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management indicated equities tumbled on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump ramped up his trade war by hitting China with tariffs of more than 100 percent and sweeping measures against dozens of trading partners came into effect.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said it must “act boldly” to accelerate regional integration.
Members of the bloc — which counts the United States as its main export market — were among those slapped with the toughest levies.
After a brief respite on Tuesday, investors were once again panicking amid fears that Trump’s attack on commerce would spark a global recession.
“The only question on every desk this morning is: Is he really willing to light a global recession match just to redraw the trade map?”
Trump believes his policy will revive the country’s lost manufacturing base by forcing companies to relocate to the United States, saying on Tuesday that countries were “dying to make a deal.”
Earlier, he said the country was “taking in almost $2 billion a day” from tariffs, but the measures have sent shockwaves through markets and wiped trillions of dollars off company valuations.
Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital estimated that the market now sees a greater than 50 percent chance of a US recession.
Tuesday’s gains in Asia and Europe were fueled by optimism that the White House would be open to compromise.
A lack of movement and Trump’s confirmation of the 50 percent duties on China took the air out of investor sentiment.
That saw Wall Street reverse healthy opening gains to end deep in the red — the S&P 500 finished below 5,000 points for the first time in almost a year.
Asia and Europe resumed their retreat Wednesday but pared early big losses.