Asian markets fall as Trump pushes more tariffs against China

Asian stocks were broadly lower in early trading Friday, after a report that President Donald Trump was pushing ahead with his plan for tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the World Trade Organization.

Trump’s WTO criticism helped push the yen USDJPY, -0.20% higher overnight, pushing Japan’s Nikkei NIK, -0.02% down 0.2%. The index has risen for eight straight days, and is up 1.4% in August coming into the final trading day of the month. Export-reliant companies fell, with Honda Motor 7267, -1.91% down 1.5% and Kobe Steel 5406, -1.48% off 1.4%.

Hong Kong stocks were sharply lower, with the Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.98% down 1.4%. China’s announcement that it would limit the number of new online games kicked Tencent 0700, -4.87% lower. Meanwhile, oil giant PetroChina 0857, -3.79% was down 3.8% following its after-the-bell earnings report. Embattled telecom-equipment maker ZTE 0763, +0.93% rose 2% after showing first-half revenue growth.

Chinese stocks dropped at the prospects of further U.S. import tariffs. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.46% was down 0.9% and the Shenzhen Composite 399106, -1.08% was off 1.2%, even as PMI data for August held up.

Korea’s Kospi SEU, +0.67% , which Thursday barely saw its nine-day run of gains come to an end, was off a further 0.1%. Steelmaker Posco 005490, -1.80% fell more than 2%, while Samsung 005930, +1.68% was down about 0.1%. Down Under, markets retreated slightly, with Australia’s ASX 200 XJO, -0.51% down 0.2% and New Zealand’s NZX-50 NZ50GR, -0.29% seeing a 0.4% decline.