Global stock markets fell on Thursday after President Donald Trump renewed his attack on China ahead of trade talks between the two countries.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 2.4% and the Shanghai Composite shed 1.5%. The Nikkei closed down 0.9% in Tokyo.
Major European indexes also moved lower in early trade. Losses were limited to 0.6% on London’s FTSE 100, but Paris’ CAC 40 and Frankfurt’s DAX suffered steeper declines.
Dow futures were down 0.8%.
Trump slammed China during a rally in Florida on Wednesday, saying he decided to raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods because the country had “broke the deal.”
The increased tariffs will take effect just after midnight on Friday, the Trump administration confirmed earlier this week.
China said Wednesday that it would retaliate if Washington goes ahead with the tariff increases. A delegation led by the country’s top trade negotiator, Liu He, will travel to Washington for the talks on Thursday.
The uncertainty around the deal and the possibility of a damaging US-China trade war being reignited has rattled investors. Chinese stocks, in particular, have plunged more than 7% so far this week.
US stocks had another volatile day of trading Wednesday, with the Dow closing slightly higher while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended the day lower after spending much of the day in positive territory. European stocks were mixed.
