Asian markets were surprisingly calm after the US commenced its threatened trade war against China at midnight Washington time — or 6am on Friday in SA."A trade war between the world’s two largest economies officially began on Friday morning as the Trump administration followed through with its threat to impose tariffs on $34bn worth of Chinese products, a significant escalation of a fight that could hurt companies and consumers in both the US and China," the New York Times reported.Chinese stock markets were down less than 0.5% while Tokyo’s Topix index rose more than 1% ahead of the JSE’s opening on Friday.The rand — which strengthened from R13.73 to R13.51 to the dollar on Thursday afternoon ahead of the US implementing its threatened tariffs — held on to most of its gains overnight.The rand was trading at R13.55 to the dollar, R15.84 to the euro, and R17.91 to the pound at 6.30am.The world now awaits to see how China will retaliate against the US. Beijing is expected to slap imp...

Subscribe now to unlock this article.

Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).

There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.

Cancel anytime.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.