Australia, New South Wales, Sydney
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Asia-Pacific markets were set to open lower Friday, tracking losses on Wall Street as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs kept investors on edge.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.19% as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a national election on May 3, kicking off a five-week campaign.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures pointed to a lower open for the market. The futures contract in Chicago was at 37,480 and its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 37,420 compared to the index’s previous close of 37,799.97.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures were at 23,775, also lower than the HSI’s last close of 23,578.8.
Investors will continue eyeing shares of automakers after they declined on Thursday following Trump’s announcement of 25% tariffs on “all cars that are not made in the United States.”
The president’s comments this week regarding the upcoming April 2 tariffs, however, have eased some concerns for investors. Recently, Trump mentioned that the tariffs would be “very lenient” and expressed a willingness to lower tariffs on China to facilitate a deal with ByteDance’s TikTok.
On Thursday, he also used tariffs as a bargaining tool, warning that he could impose “far larger” duties on the European Union and Canada, if they join forces to oppose the levies.
Overnight in the U.S., the three major averages closed lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 155.09 points, or 0.37%, to end at 42,299.70. The S&P 500 declined 0.33% to close at 5,693.31, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.53% to settle at 17,804.03.
CNBC’s Pia Singh and Brian Evans contributed to this report.