Shares sagged Thursday in Asia, apart from China, after President Donald Trump announced he will slap 25per cent tariffs on imported cars.
Trump said he was raising duties on auto imports to encourage more manufacturing in the US, but the impact will be complicated since US automakers and even foreign manufacturers with factories in the U.S. Source many of their components from around the world.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1per cent to 37,662.36.
Toyota Motor Corp stock dove 3.2per cent, while Honda Motor Co stock dipped 2.8per cent. Nissan was down 2.6per cent.
Mazda Motor Corp shares dropped 6.5per cent, while those in Subaru Corp slipped nearly 6per cent and Mitsubishi Motors Corp lost 4per cent.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has sought to persuade Trump to exempt Japan from the higher tariffs, and he reitereated his position Thursday.
“We strongly request that tariff measures not be applied to Japan,” he told reporters.
When asked about possible responses, he said without giving specifics: “All options are naturally subject to consideration.”
Ivan Espinosa, who will become chief executive at Nissan Motor Corp. April 1, told reporters earlier this week that the automaker was considering several scenarios as what Trump might do was “fluid.” Toyota declined comment.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 1 per cent to 2,616.95. Korean automakers also felt a chill from Trump’s announcement. Hyundai Motor Co.’s shares traded in Seoul lost 4.3per cent while Kia Corp.’s shares dropped 3.9per cent.
Shares in Greater China, apart from Taiwan, were higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1per cent to 23,711.97, while the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.3per cent at 3,379.19.
Chinese automakers and parts manufacturers have been expanding sales around the world, but not in the United States, so any impact from the tariffs announcement would be an indirect one.
But Taiwan’s benchmark, the Taiex, sank 1.5per cent.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.6per cent to 7,951.50.
The S&P 500 sank 1.1per cent to 5,712.20 to break what had been a run of calmer trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average swung from a gain of 230 points in the morning to a loss of 132 points, or 0.3per cent, closing at 42,454.79.
Weakness for Big Tech sent the Nasdaq composite to a market-leading drop of 2per cent, at 17,889.01.
The group of dominant stocks known as the “Magnificent Seven” has been at the center of the US stock market’s recent sell-off, which earlier this month took the S and P 500 10per cent below its all-time high for its first “correction” since 2023.
Big Tech had rocketed in earlier years amid a frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, and critics said their prices rose too quickly compared with their already rapidly growing profits.
Nvidia fell 6per cent to bring its loss for the young year so far to 15.5per cent. It was the single heaviest weight on the S&P 500 by far.
Other AI-related stocks were also weak, including server-builder Super Micro Computer, which fell 8.9per cent and power companies hoping to electrify AI data centers.
Tesla has been contending with additional challenges, including worries that political anger at its CEO, Elon Musk, will hurt the electric-vehicle maker’s sales. Tesla dropped 5.6per cent to extend its loss for 2025 to 32.6per cent.
Other US automakers also declined after Trump said he would announce his tariffs on auto imports.
United States auto giants have already spread their production around North America following prior free-trade deals encompassing the United States, Canada and Mexico. General Motors sank 3.1per cent. Ford Motor went from an early gain to a loss and back before inching up by 0.1per cent.
So far, the economy and job market have appeared to remain solid despite the worsening moods of shoppers and businesses.
Orders for machinery, airplanes and other long-lasting manufactured products unexpectedly grew last month, when economists were forecasting a contraction. But a subset of the data seen as an indicator for investment by businesses flipped from growth to contraction.
