Asian Stocks Slip as Tariff Fears Resurface Amid Legal Uncertainty – Asia Market Wrap

Asian shares and US stock futures fell on concern President Donald Trump’s tariffs are here to stay after his administration reiterated its resolve to keep the levies amid a legal tussle.

A gauge of Asian shares dipped 0.5%, trimming its biggest monthly gain since November 2023. Sentiment towards equity markets also worsened after the Wall Street Journal reported the administration is considering a stopgap effort to impose levies on swaths of the global economy. Hong Kong shares dropped 1.5% after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said trade talks with China were “a bit stalled.”
European equity-index futures also retreated.

Tariff headlines, and uncertainty about the legal status of Trump’s new levies, are once again dominating financial markets, prompting investors to re-assess their appetite for riskier assets. Adding to the concerns, a report on Thursday showed the US economy shrank at the start of the year due to weaker consumer spending and an even bigger impact from trade than initially reported.

On Thursday, a federal appeals court offered Trump a temporary reprieve from a ruling threatening to throw out the bulk of his tariff agenda. That came after the US Court of International Trade ruled that the vast majority of Trump’s global tariffs were illegal.

White House officials said they planned to continue defending the legality of their efforts on trade to the US Supreme Court, and said that if they were stymied, Trump would simply pursue the same levies through other authorities.