Foreign stock markets fell on Thursday morning after the announcement of President Donald Trump of a series of tariffs on United States business partners, including a minimum baseline rate of 10% in all nations.
Asian markets led the slide. Japan’s Nikkei index fell 4% after the opening, Hong Kong Hang Seng index slid 2.4%, the South Korea Kospi fell 2.7% and Australia ASX 200 fell by 2%.
The US markets closed before the presentation of Trump’s rose garden, but the futures of shares fell on Wednesday night. Dow Jones Futures collapsed 2.7%, s& P 500 Futures sank 3.9% and futures linked to Nasdaq 100 fell 4.7%.
Currency merchants observe monitors near a screen that shows the pricing index of composite shares of Korea (Kospi) in the currency negotiation room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, on April 3, 2025.
Ahn Young-Joon/AP
The US business partners reacted to the announcement of Trump rates with condemnation and concern.
China – Hit with 34% of tariffs in China, it enters 20% of the rates announced above, urged the United States to “immediately cancel its unilateral tariff measures and properly resolve the differences with its commercial partners through the same dialogue,” said a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce in a statement.
Tariffs “will endanger global economic development and supply chain stability,” they added.
The European Union, which now faces a 20%rate, said it had a “strong plan to retaliate”, which the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will deliver on Thursday. “The universal tariffs announced by the United States are a great blow to companies and consumers worldwide,” said Von der Leyen at X on Thursday.
“Europe is prepared to answer,” he added. “We always protect our interests and values. We are also ready to participate. And to move from confrontation to negotiation.”
In a Facebook publication, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described the tariffs aimed at the “incorrect” European Union.
President Donald Trump makes a gesture while speaking during a commercial event at the Rose Garden at the White House, on April 2, 2025, in Washington, DC
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
She added: “We will do everything possible to work for an agreement with the United States, with the aim of avoiding a commercial war that would inevitably weaken the West in favor of other world players.”
In Japan, the chief secretary of the Cabinet, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said that Tokyo “once again transmitted to the United States government that recent measures are extremely unfortunate and have strongly requested that they be reconsidered.” Japan faces 24% of Tarrffs.
The measures, he added, “could have a significant impact on economic relations between Japan and the United States, and ultimately on the global economy and the multilateral trade system as a whole.”
The interim president of South Korea, Han Duck-Soo, instructed the government to “shed all its capacities at its disposal to overcome this commercial crisis,” in a statement cited by the Yonhap news agency.
They have described Trump’s measures, which included 25% tariffs for all South Korean goods, as “very serious” and warned about “the approach to the reality of a global tariff war.”
Jack Moore, Leah Sarnoff of ABC News, and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.