Trump’s trade war salvo jolts markets

SINGAPORE: Investors bought dollars, sold stocks and fretted about inflation on Monday in a scramble to assess the risk of trade war after Donald Trump put tariffs on top US trading partners.

Trump’s orders for additional levies of 25 per cent on imports from Mexico and most goods from Canada, as well as 10 per cent on goods from China are light on detail. But they kick in on Tuesday and have jolted markets that had assumed Trump was mostly bluff and bluster.

“Trump’s trade war has started,” said Alvin Tan, head of Asia currency strategy at RBC Capital Markets in Singapore, noting it was hard to see the dollar retreating any time soon.

The dollar has been the main mover, gaining as Trump headed for and then won office because investors figured tariff-hit countries would weaken their currencies to offset the impact.

On Monday, the euro EUR=EBS fell 1.3 per cent on fears Europe may be next on the tariff list.

Canada’s dollar CAD=D3 skidded to a 20-year low on the greenback, China’s yuan slid in offshore trade CNH=EBS, oil jumped, metals slumped and U.S. equity futures ESc1 dropped about 2 per cent on risks to U.S. companies’ bottom lines. MKTS/GLOB

The longer-run implications for other asset classes is less clear.

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Stocks fell as analysts, such as those at Barclays, expect a drag on US company earnings and uncertainty on how the rest of the world responds. Canada has already ordered retaliatory tariffs and Mexico has flagged a retaliatory response.

Shares in Taiwanese tech companies with factories in Mexico fell heavily, with Foxconn 2317.TW down 8 per cent, Quanta 2382.TW down around 10 per cent and Inventec 2356.TW off 8 per cent.

China, still closed on Monday for the Lunar New Year holidays, said it would challenge Trump’s tariffs at the World Trade Organization and take unspecified countermeasures.

Shares in Hong Kong .HSI, Tokyo .N225, Sydney .AXJO, Seoul .KS11 and Taipei .TWII made losses around 2 per cent. European stock futures STXEc1 slid 2.8 per cent.

“I don’t believe market participants have fully grasped the extent of the potential fallout yet, especially as responses from affected countries unfold,” said Tareck Horchani, head of prime brokerage dealing at Maybank Securities in Singapore.

He said many investors had built positions in dollars and gold in recent weeks but may still have been surprised by how quickly Trump’s threats turned to action this time around.

“It’s possible that some investors underestimated Trump’s resolve on tariffs, expecting more negotiation rather than immediate action.”

Gold XAU= scaled record highs on Friday but eased a touch against the rising dollar on Monday. GOL/

Cryptocurrencies, which have lately mirrored investors appetite for taking risks, dived with bitcoin BTC= down more than 8 per cent since Friday to $93,700. Ether ETH= was down 25 per cent to $2,500 – wiping out gains since Trump’s election.

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ANXIETY

The difficulty in assessing the effect of tariffs is because their duration and precise rationale remain unknown.

Some investors still believe some sort of deal is possible or that tariffs will be quickly dismantled if Trump gets what he wants.

Trump has linked the tariffs to the flow of migrants and drugs – particularly fentanyl – into the US and demanded crackdowns in Canada, China and Mexico.

China and Mexico have said fentanyl is America’s problem, so prospects of a breakthrough are unclear.

“These generalised tariffs that cover a much wider range of products and are targeted toward social policy have usually proven to be a mistake,” said Rick Meckler, parter at Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.

“I think that’s why the market has looked at this sceptically, and with anxiety, all along,” he said. “A full reaction won’t be reached until it’s clear this is the policy, however.”

Debt markets, meanwhile, seem caught between the negative inflationary implications of higher consumer prices and the potential for rate cuts due to the hit to growth – which ought to be positive for bonds.

Benchmark 10-year Treasuries US10YT=RR rallied slightly, pushing yields about 4.5 basis points lower to 4.52 per cent.

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