Global markets tumble at week’s open, signaling prolonged slump

Global markets suffered a dramatic downturn on what is being dubbed a “Black Monday,” as Asian stocks plunged in response to China’s retaliatory measures against the United States, fueling fears of a full-blown trade war.

The turmoil comes after the latest round of sweeping U.S. tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, despite international calls for compromise. China responded over the weekend with its own countermeasures, further dampening market sentiment and sending shockwaves through global trading floors.

The first wave of market openings in Asia triggered a worldwide sell-off, marking the worst day for equities since the pandemic.

Hong Kong led the losses, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index plunging 13%—its biggest drop since the 1997 Asian financial crisis—while in mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index shed 7.7%, or 258.21 points, to close at 3,083.80.

Japan’s Nikkei briefly fell 8% before recovering to a 6% loss, while Taiwan’s stock market shed over 9%.

Indian markets followed suit, with the benchmark Nifty index falling more than 3% at the open. South Korean shares tumbled over 5%, while Australian blue-chip stocks sank 6%, and Singapore’s stock market also opened more than 7% lower.

Futures contracts for the New York Stock Exchange’s main boards were sharply down Sunday, suggesting more pain for battered Wall Street stocks when markets open Monday, while U.S. oil dropped below $60 a barrel for the first time since April 2021.

On the other hand, gold extended its decline, with the price of an ounce slipping 0.45% to $3,025.

The sell-off pressure extended to cryptocurrencies as well, with Bitcoin—the largest and most valuable digital asset—sliding nearly 10% to around $75,000. This sharp decline trimmed its market capitalization to $1.49 trillion.

The broader cryptocurrency market also suffered significant losses, with total market value dropping over 10% to $2.37 trillion, reflecting widespread risk aversion among investors amid escalating global economic tensions.

Frankfurt leads Europe’s losses, Istanbul opens in the red

European stocks mirrored the sharp losses in Asian markets, with indices across the continent in freefall. Frankfurt’s DAX led the decline, slumping as much as 10%, followed by Paris dropping more than 6%, London nearly 6%, Amsterdam and Oslo over 5%, and Milan down more than 3%.

Meanwhile, Istanbul was also swept up in the global turmoil, with the benchmark BIST 100 Index opening the day down 2.8%.

‘You have to take medicine to fix something’

Meanwhile, Trump likened the tariffs—widely blamed for sparking global turmoil—to “medicine” needed to address the country’s trade deficit with various nations.

“I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” Trump told reporters Sunday aboard Air Force One en route from Florida to Washington, D.C. He insisted he was not deliberately trying to trigger a market sell-off with his policies.

“As for what’s going to happen with the market, I can’t tell you,” he added. “But I can tell you our country has gotten a lot stronger, and eventually it’ll be a country like no other—economically, it will be the most dominant country in the world,” he said, defending his decision on tariffs.

“I spoke to a lot of leaders—European, Asian from all over the world. They’re dying to make a deal. But I said we’re not going to have deficits with your country. We’re not going to do that because, to me, a deficit is a loss,” he said.

In a post on his Truth Social platform Sunday, Trump also wrote: “We have massive financial deficits with China, the European Union, and many others. The only way this problem can be cured is with tariffs, which are now bringing tens of billions of dollars into the U.S.A. They are already in effect, and a beautiful thing to behold.”

“Someday people will realize that tariffs, for the United States of America, are a very beautiful thing,” he added.

China vows to protect US firms

In an effort to calm foreign investor concerns, Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Ling Ji vowed to protect U.S. firms and assured that China would remain a “promising land” for foreign investment.

Beijing’s retaliatory measures “firmly protect the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises, including American companies,” Ling told a panel of U.S. company representatives on Sunday, according to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce.

Among the latest actions, China imposed 34% tariffs on all imports of U.S. goods on April 4, in response to a matching round of levies announced earlier by Trump.

“These measures are aimed at bringing the United States back onto the right track of the multilateral trade system,” Ling said, addressing executives from companies including electric vehicle giant Tesla, GE Healthcare, and Medtronic.

“The root cause of the tariff issue lies in the United States,” he added, urging American firms to “take pragmatic actions to jointly maintain the stability of global supply chains and promote mutual cooperation and win-win outcomes.”