Washington [US], April 9: On the morning of April 9, Asian stock markets fell again as the US continued to make strong moves on tariffs against China.This morning, Asian stock markets plunged again after the White House announced that it would impose tariffs totaling up to 104% on Chinese goods.According to AFP, the Nikkei 225 index in Japan fell more than 3% after the opening hours of trading on the morning of April 9 while the broader Topix index fell 3.1%. South Korea's won fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 2009 while oil prices fell 3% at the start of the session.Taiwan's Taiex index fell 1.8% even as the region's government's finance agency announced a $15 billion market stabilization fund late on April 8.Exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong both fell after the US and China continuously announced-for-tat announcements. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong fell 3.14%, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.13%. China's CSI300 fell 1.2% and the SmallCap 1000 index fell more than 4%, according to Reuters.South Korea's Kospi index fell 1% while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 2%. According to The Guardian, stocks in New Zealand also fell.On April 8, the Nikkei 225 index rose by 6% after consecutive declines since US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping tariff policy on April 2. Other markets in Asia and Europe also followed that upward momentum, as well as in the US market, after 3 days of sell-off. Positive signs on April 8 came from talks between the White House with Japan and South Korea.However, U.S. stock prices then turned around and all three major indexes were in the red at the end of the session, with the S&P 500 down 1.6%, the Dow Jones down 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite down 2.1%.The 10 percent base tariff took effect on April 5 for most U.S. trading partners. Higher tariffs for dozens of economies are expected to take effect from 11 a.m. on April 9 (Vietnam time).President Trump initially imposed a 34 percent tariff on Chinese goods but after Beijing responded with a similar tariff, he vowed to add another 50 percent. Adding the tariffs available from February and March, the total tariffs that the U.S. will impose on Chinese goods will be 104 percent.Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
