Key points
- Trump to announce new tariffs on semiconductors “over the next week”
- Chip levies would likely be in place “in a month or two”: Howard Lutnick
- A trade war will have no winners: President Xi
ISLAMABAD: Asian stocks rose Monday as trade war fears were tempered by Trump’s announcement of tariff exemptions for electronics, though the dollar weakened and gold hit a fresh record amid fears the relief would be short-lived.
After the wild gyrations witnessed last week, markets got off to a relatively stable start following news Friday that the White House would exempt smartphones, semiconductors, computers and other devices from painful “reciprocal” levies, according to AFP.
All three main indexes on Wall Street finished solidly higher, helped by comments from a top Federal Reserve official that the bank was prepared to step in to support financial markets, Western media reported.
Tech companies
And Asia followed suit, with tech companies helping push Hong Kong more than two per cent higher, while Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Wellington, Taipei and Manila all well up, AFP reported.
“After a period of chaotic price action, chinks of light poke through the forest canopy providing a much-needed guide to the entities that price risk and liquidity for a living, which in turn, may see liquidity conditions improve and a relative calm return to markets,” Chris Weston at Pepperstone cited AFP as saying.
However, Trump looked to temper the remarks Sunday, saying the exemptions had been misconstrued and writing on his Truth Social platform that “NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’… especially not China which, by far, treats us the worst!”
“Leads nowhere”
He said he would announce new tariffs on semiconductors “over the next week”.
His commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, earlier said chip levies would likely be in place “in a month or two”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday that protectionism “leads nowhere” and that a trade war would have “no winners”, days after China hit US goods with 125 per cent duties, but suggested it would not retaliate further in the future.
Washington has ramped up tariffs on Chinese goods to 145 percent and excluded it from a 90-day pause of crippling levies the White House announced on Wednesday.
CNBC reported that several countries in the region are also preparing for trade talks with the US this week.
Trump is engaging in talks with countries including Vietnam, South Korea and Japan, and is prioritising existing trading partners that are strategic to countering China, CNBC cited two people close to the White House.
