by Val Cipriani, Investors Chronicle, May 15, 2025:
Shares in trusts investing in Asian markets jumped earlier this week on the news that the US and China have agreed to a 90-day pause in their tariff war – but much uncertainty remains and investors should expect a rocky ride.
China-focused investment trusts have been the most volatile in the year to date, as the chart below shows. Chinese stocks have had a difficult couple of years, and rallied in February only for Donald Trump’s tariff announcement on “liberation day” to wipe out those gains. However, the shares have regained territory since..
Other Asian countries have also been hit with high tariff rates, although the 90-day pause decided by Trump a few days after the initial announcement is currently in effect. “The determination of size of the initial proposed tariffs was nonsensical and it heavily penalised many Asian countries, many of which thought that they had good relations with the US,” said James Carthew, head of investment companies at QuotedData. “The stay of execution provided by the decision to reduce most tariffs to 10 per cent has allowed markets to bounce [back] but investors will be wary that the decision is reversed once again.”
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