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China stocks fall after Trump suggests tariffs on Beijing could come into effect by next month

Victoria Harbour on July 14, 2022, in Hong Kong.
Li Zhihua | China News Service | Getty Images

Victoria Harbour on July 14, 2022, in Hong Kong.

This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Wednesday, with China stocks declining after President Donald Trump's comments on imposing a 10% tariff on China.

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Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.33% to close at 8,429.8.

Japan's Nikkei 225 added 1.58% to end at 39,646.25, and the Topix rose 0.87% to close at 2,737.19. South Korea's Kospi added 1.15% to close at 2,547.06, while the Kosdaq traded 0.86% higher to close at 732.31.

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Shares in several Korean tech stocks rallied with SK Hynix and LG Electronics leading gains by 2.52% and 2.85% respectively. This follows reports on Korean firms considering moving their production plants from Mexico to the U.S. following Trump's protectionist policies.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.72% in its final hour of trade, while mainland China's CSI 300 fell 0.93% to close at 3,797.02. Trump said that his team was discussing a 10% tariff on China and that the duty could take effect as early as Feb. 1.

India's Nifty 50 rebounded slightly, adding 0.28% after falling to its lowest since last June on Tuesday. Similarly, the BSE Sensex climbed 0.46%.

Investors will be looking out for Malaysia's central bank policy meeting today, where the Bank Negara Malaysia is expected to keep its policy rate steady at 3%.

Overnight in the U.S., the three major averages advanced as investors viewed Trump's comments around international trade as a bit softer than expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 537.98 points, or 1.24%, to finish at 44,025.81. The S&P 500 gained 0.88% to end at 6,049.24, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.64% to 19,756.78.

Trump said he was considering 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada on Feb. 1 because of their border policies while signing first-day executive orders in the White House Monday night. He also mentioned China, noting that the U.S. could put tariffs on the country if it doesn't approve a TikTok deal.

—CNBC's Alex Harring and Brian Evans contributed to this report.

Softbank Group shares climb over 8% after U.S. AI infrastructure investment plans

Shares of Softbank Group rose 8.6% after U.S. President Donald Trump revealed that SoftBank is amongst three companies that will be forming a joint venture to invest heavily in artificial intelligence infrastructure the U.S.

SoftBank, alongside OpenAI and Oracle are planning a joint venture called Stargate, with plans to deploy an initial $100 billion and up to $500 billion into AI projects.

— Lee Ying Shan

Stocks close higher

Stocks finished Tuesday's session higher.

The Dow rose more than 500 points, or 1.2%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite added 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively.

— Alex Harring

Energy stocks buck market rally

Energy stocks sat out of the S&P 500's climb on Tuesday.

The sector of stocks within the broad index slid 0.6%, making it the only of the 11 tracking for losses. By comparison, the S&P 500 as a whole is up 0.7% in afternoon trading.

Energy stocks struggled after President Trump declared a national energy emergency as he seeks to increase fossil fuel production. Higher output could put downward pressure on global oil and gas prices, potentially hitting producers' bottom line.

Devon Energy led the sector lower with a drop of 3%, while Occidental Petroleum and APA followed with losses of around 2.5% each.

Despite Tuesday's underperformance, the energy sector has been the best performer of 2025.

— Alex Harring, Spencer Kimball

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