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Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged to an eight-month low on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs, including a 24% duty on Japanese imports. The index dropped as much as 4.6% in early trading, hitting 34,102.00 — its lowest level since August 7 — before trimming losses to a 2.9% decline by 0050 GMT.
Market sentiment turned sharply risk-off, with 216 of the Nikkei's 225 listed companies falling into the red. The broader Topix index also took a heavy hit, losing as much as 4.3% before recovering slightly to trade down 3.1%.
The tariffs, significantly higher than the anticipated 10–20%, came as a shock. “We thought tariffs would be 10%, maybe 20%, but instead they were a whopping 24%,” said Kazuo Kamitani, equities strategist at Nomura Securities. “Call it the Trump tariff shock.”
Bank stocks led the decline, sliding 6.4%, as falling global bond yields dampened earnings expectations from lending and investments. Automakers also suffered steep losses. The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s automaker sub-index fell nearly 4%, with a separate 25% tariff on Japanese car exports to the U.S. taking effect later in the day. Toyota Motor shares dropped 4.7%.
Japan’s semiconductor sector was hit hard. Tokyo Electron, a major chip equipment maker, slumped 5.8%, while Advantest, a key supplier to Nvidia, lost 4.9%.
As geopolitical trade tensions escalate, investor confidence in Japanese equities has taken a major hit, driving capital outflows and adding further volatility to global markets.
