Shares slide in Asia as new US import taxes loom

The stock markets fell in Asia after President Donald Trump suggested that the new prices he should announce this week will strike all countries, not just those with the biggest commercial imbalances with the United States.

Trump made the comments as he is preparing to reveal a massive mass of import tax on Wednesday, in what he called the “Liberation Day” of America.

The measures will come in addition to the rates already imposed by Washington in aluminum, steel and vehicles, as well as increased samples from all goods from China.

“You would start with all countries,” Trump told journalists on Air Force One. “Essentially countries we are talking about.

But he said that his administration would be “much more generous” and “nicer” than countries in the United States.

With 48 hours to be done before the prices come into force, the United Kingdom is still locked in talks with the United States of an exemption.

Sunday, Downing Street said that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had “productive negotiations” with Trump In a telephone call, the addition of discussions “would continue to rhythm”.

On Saturday, government sources had said that The United Kingdom would not hesitate to impose its own prices on the United States if necessary.

Other jurisdictions, such as the European Union and Canada, have already declared that they were preparing a range of commercial reprisals.

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, recently told Fox Business Channel that prices would be concentrated on 10 to 15 countries with the worst trade deficits with the United States, but have not appointed them.

Trump sees commercial taxes – which, in this case, would be paid by important American companies of goods – as a means of protecting the American economy of unfair competition and as a negotiation currency to obtain better commercial conditions.

The concerns about a trade war are disturbing markets and create fears of a recession in the United States.

On Monday, the Nikkei 225 Japanese reference sharing index closed more than 4%, Kospi in South Korea ended the day by 3%and ASX 200 in Australia dropped by 1.7%.

In the afternoon, trade, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was approximately 1.2% lower.

During the weekend, Trump advisers echoed from the point of view that the planned prices could raise billions of dollars and help create jobs in the United States.

His best commercial advisor Pete Navarro said that he said that the prices would increase.

The tax on all cars imports could raise $ 100 billion (77.3 billion pounds sterling) per year, said Navarro. All planned prices could raise $ 600 billion a year, about a fifth of the value of total goods in the United States, he added.

An information sheet from the White House published last week suggested that a 10% rate on each import could create nearly three million American jobs.

However, it is feared that prices can feed inflation – something that Trump has committed to reducing during his presidential campaign – if companies choose to pass the higher cost of importing goods to their customers.

If companies absorb the cost, IF could reach profits that could in turn affect investments.

Will Butler-Adams, Managing Director of Brompton Bicycle, who makes folding bikes, said that American prices created uncertainty.

While, for the moment, Brompton products are not faced with additional taxes, he said that people interpreting the prices are trying to establish the amount of steel in products from outside the United States, which could therefore lead to prices.

“The reality is that we don’t do it [know] In fact, and the people who are on the border importing goods in the United States do not fully understand how some of these prices could be put in place, “said Butler-Adams.

About 10% of Brompton sales come from the United States, where she went from staff of four to 40 people and has shops in New York and Washington.

But Mr. Butler-Adams said the prices could prove to be “counterproductive”.

“Ironically, if he puts taxes, it will make our product less competitive,” he said.

“We will not continue to invest in the same way as we are now. We can even shrink, to the extreme, we could withdraw.”

In addition, Trump said that an agreement with the Chinese owner of Tiktok, Bytedance, to sell the application would be agreed before a deadline on Saturday.

He set the deadline of April 5 in January for the short video platform to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the United States for national security reasons.

It had to take effect this month to comply with a law adopted under the Biden administration.