The first casualties of the trade war: Asian stock markets plunge

The trade war initiated by Donald Trump has already claimed its first casualties. Asian stock markets saw widespread declines at the close of Thursday's session, following the announcement of U.S. tariffs that heavily impact several of the continent's major economies. The biggest losses were in Vietnam, where the main index dropped 6%. The Nikkei closed down 2.7%, while Chinese markets limited losses to between 1.6% in Hong Kong and 0.23% in Shanghai.

Hanoi's plunge was driven by the stock market collapse of companies in the textile industry, which supply Nike and other U.S. firms, as well as companies in the country’s technology sector. The publication of the new tariff tables revealed that Vietnam is one of the hardest-hit countries, with a new 46% charge on its products trying to reach the U.S.

Chinese stock markets, with moderate falls between 0.23% and 1.6%

However, the markets in China, the main victim of the new tariffs, reacted relatively well to the announcement, especially considering that Trump imposed an additional 34% levy on top of the 20% tariffs they had already been enduring for the past few weeks.

The major indexes in the Asian giant were some of the best performers in response to the news. Notably, the Shanghai Stock Exchange showed minimal decline, with a slight drop of just 0.23%. Meanwhile, Shenzhen's losses were limited to 0.98%, while the Hong Kong Stock Exchange lagged behind, experiencing the steepest decline at 1.6%.

The Nikkei is down 2.7%

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index closed down by 2.77%, while the broader Topix index fell by 3.08%. Japanese products will face a 24% surcharge to enter the U.S. market, as announced by the White House.