Key stock markets around the world extended their losses on Friday as the global fallout from President Donald Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs continued to shake investor confidence.
Japan’s Nikkei index tumbled 3.5%, while the broader Topix index fell even further, dropping 4.45% amid fears of escalating trade tensions. In South Korea, the KOSPI index slid 1.7%, as the country contends not only with the impact of Trump’s tariffs but also fresh political turbulence following the Constitutional Court’s decision to uphold the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
India, which had previously outperformed many regional peers due to relatively lighter tariffs, also joined the sell-off. Both the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex dropped more than 1% on Friday, as investor sentiment turned sharply negative.
Australia’s S&P/ASX index dropped another 2%, pushing it to its lowest level in eight months, reflecting growing fears that the tariffs could trigger a broader global economic slowdown.
Trump’s announcement on Wednesday of new tariffs targeting nearly all major U.S. trading partners has sparked widespread market volatility. The move sent both U.S. and international markets into a nosedive, with Thursday marking the worst trading day for Wall Street since June 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the U.S., the tech-heavy NASDAQ plunged 6%, the S&P 500 fell 4.8%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined nearly 4%, underscoring the deep market anxiety over potential trade wars and their economic fallout.
