US president tells reporters the levies are ‘medicine to fix something’ as Nikkei tumbles nearly 9% in early trading, worsening huge losses from last week’s announcement
Markets react to Trump tariffs – live updates
Donald Trump said foreign governments would have to pay “a lot of money” to lift sweeping tariffs that he characterised as “medicine,” as markets in Asia plunged in early trading on Monday.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One late on Sunday, the US president indicated he was not concerned about market losses that have already wiped out nearly $6tn in value from US stocks. “I don’t want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said.