European and US futures slump as Trump says EU tariffs will ‘definitely happen’; stocks and cryptocurrencies tumble in Asian trading hours

• Trump says EU tariffs will ‘definitely happen’ as Mexico, Canada and China retaliate

Shares of Japanese and South Korean automakers and their suppliers led declines in Asia on Monday, as exporters across the region were walloped by US President Donald Trump’s introduction of sweeping tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China.

The move by Trump, though widely expected, knocked some of the world’s biggest manufacturers, as investors grappled with the prospect of weakening demand from the world’s top economy and, more worryingly, the possibility of a downturn in global growth, Reuters reports.

Stocks in Hong Kong, fell nearly 2% while China’s markets remained closed for the lunar new year holiday break.

Japan’s Nikkei share average tumbled as much as 2.3% in early trading, and Korea’s Kospi fell as much as 2.4%. Taiwan’s Taiex fell 4.4% at the open, led by a more than 6% plunge in semiconductor heavyweight TSMC.

In the US, S&P 500 futures slid 1.6% and Nasdaq futures slumped 2.2%. European futures fell as much as 3.4%.

The US dollar shot to a record high of 7.3765 against the Chinese yuan in offshore trading, and its highest against the Canadian dollar since 2003 and the strongest against the Mexican peso since 2022.

The euro fell by as much as 2.3% in response to Trump’s latest tariff threat, to near parity with the US dollar at $1.0125, the lowest since November 2022, before recovering to reclaim levels above $1.02.

Bitcoin was down by more than 6% to about $93,000. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, fell as much as 27% to $2,135, before paring some losses.