World shares have retreated, with benchmarks in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea tumbling more than 2%
BANGKOK (AP) — Shares retreated Friday in Europe and 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.
Germany's DAX fell 0.4% to 22,458.23, while the CAC 40 in Paris gave up 0.4% to 8,073.90. Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.1% lower to 8,751.32.
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But U.S. futures gained, with the contracts for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.3%.
In Asian trading, 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 3.3% to 22,941.32, 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% and the Dow dropped 0.4%. The Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.8%.
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.
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.
In other trading early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 70 cents to $69.65 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, handed back 66 cents to $72.91 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 150.44 Japanese yen from 149.82 yen late Thursday. The euro rose to $1.0402 from $1.0401.
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