Investing.com - Asian equities were mostly lower in morning trade on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he has ordered the U.S. Trade Representative to identify $200 billion worth of China goods for additional tariffs.
Trump said in a statement on Monday that the move would be in retaliation for China’s earlier decision to raise tariffs on $50 billion in U.S. goods.
"China apparently has no intention of changing its unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology. Rather than altering those practices, it is now threatening United States companies, workers, and farmers who have done nothing wrong," Trump said.
"After the legal process is complete, these tariffs will go into effect if China refuses to change its practices, and also if it insists on going forward with the new tariffs that it has recently announced," he added.
On Friday, Trump said he was pushing ahead with a 25% tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese products.
China’s Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component slid 1.5% and 1.7% following the news, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also fell 1.6% by 9:40PM ET (01:40 GMT).
Meanwhile, Xiaomi Corp raised some eyebrows on Tuesday after the company said it is postponing its China depository receipts (CDR) offering until after it completes its listing in Hong Kong.
Xiaomi did not say when it would restart its CDR application process or why it was postponing the mainland offering.
Singapore’s May home sales received some focus as data showed sales jumped to the highest since August. Developers sold 1,121 units last month, according to a statement from the Urban Redevelopment Authority on Monday, compared to the revised 732 units in April.
Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s KOSPI both traded 0.5% lower in morning trade. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.3%.