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Seoul stocks tumble after U.S. 'reciprocal tariffs' announcement

Published: 03 Apr. 2025, 09:39 Updated: 03 Apr. 2025, 09:45

SHIN HA-NEE
[email protected]

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi opening on April 3. [NEWS1]

Seoul stocks opened sharply lower on Thursday in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive “reciprocal tariffs" announcement.

The Kospi opened down 2.73 percent, or 68.43 points lower from the previous session at 2,437.42. As of 9:20 a.m., the Kospi slightly regained its footing at 2,457.73, down 1.92 percent from yesterday’s closing.

Most large caps fell, with Samsung Electronics sliding 2.55 percent to 57,300 won and SK hynix falling 3.89 percent to 190,200 won ($129).

Hyundai Motor plunged 3.26 percent to 189,900 won, and Kia lost 3.04 percent to 89,300 won.

The government convened a series of emergency meetings starting early that morning, promising to “leverage all market stabilization measures available if volatility surges excessively."

“Now that the implementation of heavy reciprocal tariffs has become a reality, the government will now focus all efforts on a full-fledged response,” said Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok during an emergency meeting on macroeconomic and financial issues, the so-called “F4 meeting,” held at 8:00 a.m. that day.

The F4 meeting is attended by the four economic policy chiefs of the country: The minister of economy and finance, the Bank of Korea governor, the Financial Services Commission chairman and the Financial Supervisory Service governor.

“The U.S. government’s reciprocal tariff implementation is expected to drive volatility across global financial markets, and the domestic financial and foreign exchange markets are also likely to react strongly,” said Choi.

The government has been “thoroughly preparing its contingency plan based on possible scenarios,” the finance minister said, adding that the authorities will continue to closely monitor the situation around the clock.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [[email protected]]