Markets in Asia jumped on Monday after temporary freeze on some new tariffs on electronics amid more abrupt shifts in President Trump’s approach to trade policy.
Stocks in Japan rose 1 percent while benchmarks went up 2 percent in Hong Kong and less than 1 percent in mainland China. Stocks in Taiwan, a global center of technology manufacturing, fell slightly.
S&P 500 stock futures, which let investors bet on how the index might perform when it opens in New York, were more than 1 percent higher.
The modest rally followed another chaotic week on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 starting with losses but ending with its best weekly performance since November 2022. The gains were driven by Mr. Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that he would pause for 90 days the “reciprocal” tariffs he had imposed on dozens of countries just a week earlier.
On Friday night, after Mr. Trump had repeatedly said he would spare no industry, U.S. customs officials exempted a host of technology products. That means smartphones, semiconductors, computers and other equipment would not face most of the 145 percent tariffs Mr. Trump has imposed on China.
The carve outs, which offered some relief to investors, were viewed as a win for Apple and other American tech giants because tech products and components are a key part of American imports from China. A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce on Sunday called the change a “small step” in “correcting” the tariffs Mr. Trump has put on China.
But on Sunday, the water got muddier when President Trump signaled that the exemption would be temporary and that he would pursue new tariffs on semiconductors and other technologies. Shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest producer of chips, fell 2.7 percent on Monday.
Financial markets around the world have whipsawed in recent weeks because of the chaotic rollout of tariffs, which Mr. Trump believes will spur domestic manufacturing. America’s trading partners have scrambled to respond to the extraordinary array of tariffs Mr. Trump has announced, including a 10 percent tax on virtually all U.S. imports. Consumer confidence in the United States has plunged to levels not seen in years.
Some analysts and business leaders have warned that Mr. Trump’s tariffs have already begun weighing on the economy.
“Even a quick tariff resolution with key partners leaves the economy under pressure from structurally higher trade costs and consumer spending headwinds,” Citibank’s equity analysts wrote in a research note on Sunday.
Kazuo Ueda, the governor of Japan’s central bank, told legislators on Monday that tariffs would “put downward pressure” on the Japanese and global economies.
Investors and analysts have also become concerned about sharp swings in the U.S. government bond market, known as the Treasury market.
The 10-year Treasury yield, which is one of the most important interest rates in the world, underpinning debt markets around the world, rose to roughly 4.5 percent on Friday, from less than 4 percent the week before.
Such a sharp rise in yield, which corresponds to a sharp drop in price, is unusual, and signaled a broad shift away from U.S. markets, with the U.S. dollar falling in tandem.
The market swings, propelled by major policy shifts from the White House, have left some in the market feeling paralyzed. Consumers and business leaders have reported feeling similarly stuck, uncertain about the future.
“Right now, we can say with a straight face that the world may look vastly different in a year or two’s time than any other environment we have lived through,” said Henry Peabody, a strategist at Riverhead Research. He added that equities would need to fall further to offer “a margin of safety” before he would recommend buying into the market again. Until then, he said, “It’s hurry up and wait.”
Hisako Ueno contributed research.
