Asian markets soar as Trump pauses tariffs, China reacts
Financial markets in the Asia-Pacific region saw a significant increase on Thursday after US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on most "reciprocal" tariffs. Despite previous tariff hikes on imports of Chinese products, the stock markets in China also opened positively.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index began trading with a 1.9% increase, eventually gaining 9% from Wednesday's close, reaching 34,568.46.
Asian stock markets rise following Trump's policy shift
In Seoul, the Kospi index began trading with a 4.4% rise.
Taiwan's Taiex experienced a record increase of 9.3% within minutes of opening. This represents the largest rise since March 2020, also mirrored in Australia, where the S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 5.3% to reach 7,764.10 by 10:30 AM local time.
Donald Trump announced on Wednesday a 90-day pause on applying increased tariffs to other countries, stating that during this period, tariffs would be set at 10%.
An exception to the tariff "pause" is China, for which Trump announced raising the import tax to 125%. Despite this, Chinese markets opened with a slight increase.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index increased by 3.1% to reach 20,886.79, and the Hang Seng Tech index rose by 4.1%.
The Chinese CSI300 index rose by 1.7%. Also showing gains were the Shanghai Composite Index and the Shenzhen Composite Index, which increased by 1.3% and 2%, respectively, in the morning.
China responds to Trump's decision
In a retaliatory move, China's Ministry of Finance announced on Wednesday an increase in tariffs on US-imported goods from the previously announced 34% to 84%. These tariffs will take effect on Thursday at 12:01 PM local time.
Following Trump's announcement on Wednesday, stock prices on Wall Street saw rapid and substantial increases, recovering much of the losses from the past four days. Within minutes of the announcement, the Dow Jones index rose by nearly 7%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ increased by 10%.
However, experts cited by the AFP agency note that uncertainty about US tariff policy still looms. The stock market gains are accompanied by a drop in oil prices and a rise in the value of the yen, indicating ongoing investor nervousness.
