Asian Shares Advance After Trump Delays Tariffs: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Asian shares climbed after President Donald Trump delayed tariffs on Mexico and Canada for a month, and said he’d hold further talks with China.
Stocks in Hong Kong, Australia and Japan gained and US futures rose after the S&P 500 on Monday trimmed most of its slide that earlier approached 2%. Dollar gained against G-10 currencies and oil dropped.
The delays helped reverse Monday’s risk-off market sentiment and investors are turning their focus on how a planned call between the US and China pans out. The delay with Mexico and Canada bolsters the view that Trump sees tariffs as a negotiating ploy — but is still reluctant to inflict economic pain on Americans.
“The overnight pushing back of tariffs on Mexico serves as a reminder of the cycle we have entered: tariff announcements are followed by calls and negotiations, declarations of victory, and then the cycle begins anew,” wrote Tony Sycamore a market analyst at IG Australia Pty Ltd. in a note. “Ultimately the path leads to higher tariffs, slower growth, higher inflation and less certainty for risk takers and equities.”
Trump said that his administration plans to speak with China, raising the possibility of a potential reprieve on a 10% tariff set to take effect in hours after he delayed levies on Canada and Mexico. China will be subject to 10% tariffs if no deal is reached by 12:01 a.m. Tuesday New York time.
The positioning in Chinese equity market and a lot of other Asian markets is “a lot lighter today compared to 2018 when we first had the US-China trade escalation,” said Kelvin Tay, a regional CIO at UBS Global Wealth Management, in a Bloomberg TV interview. “I think this time around the markets are likely to be to be a little bit orderly and not a chaotic as before.”
Trump’s move to invoke an emergency and impose tariffs on the two nations and China is the most extensive act of protectionism taken by a US president in almost a century.
Among the biggest uncertainties is how a resilient US economy would handle the impact of a trade war, in case it materializes. That concern was evident in the bond market, where short-dated Treasury yields climbed as longer ones moved in the opposite direction.
“While we believe that tariffs are primarily a negotiating tool for President Trump, it’s very difficult to say whether these tariffs will be short-lived or if there is a scenario where a deal is struck that reduces the tariffs,” said Yung-Yu Ma at BMO Wealth Management.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said the central bank should proceed more cautiously in lowering borrowing costs amid mounting uncertainty introduced by the Trump administration. Others such as the Fed’s Raphael Bostic, Mary Daly, and Philip Jefferson are set to speak later today.
In other markets Tuesday, the dollar strengthened against every Group-of-10 peer. West Texas Intermediate oil fell early in Tuesday’s session after its biggest advance in more than two weeks. Gold held on to gains.
Key events this week:
- US factory orders, US durable goods, Tuesday
- Alphabet earnings, Tuesday
- Fed’s Raphael Bostic, Mary Daly, Philip Jefferson speak, Tuesday
- China Caixin services PMI, Wednesday
- Eurozone HCOB Services PMI, PPI, Wednesday
- US trade, Wednesday
- Fed’s Austan Goolsbee, Tom Barkin, Michelle Bowman, Philip Jefferson speak, Wednesday
- Eurozone retail sales, Thursday
- UK rate decision, Thursday
- US initial jobless claims, Thursday
- Fed’s Christopher Waller, Lorie Logan speak, Thursday
- Amazon earnings, Thursday
- US nonfarm payrolls, unemployment, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
- Fed’s Michelle Bowman, Adriana Kugler speak, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% as of 10:23 a.m. Tokyo time
- Japan’s Topix rose 1.2%
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4%
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.2%
Currencies
- The euro fell 0.3% to $1.0311
- The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 155.26 per dollar
- The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.3169 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin fell 0.8% to $101,087.97
- Ether rose 1.1% to $2,848.6
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.56%
- Australia’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 4.42%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.3% to $72.24 a barrel
- Spot gold rose 0.2% to $2,819.79 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Rita Nazareth, Shery Ahn, Haidi Lun and Abhishek Vishnoi.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
