Japan’s benchmark Topix dropped 3.2 per cent and the exporter-oriented Nikkei 225 slid 3.9 per cent. In South Korea the Kospi fell 2.2 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 0.4 per cent. Gold hit a record $3,098 per troy ounce while US Treasury yields declined, in a sign that investors were piling into safe assets.

Stock-market investors hope President Trump’s April 2 tariff announcements will provide much wanted certainty. They shouldn’t count on it.

Stocks have plunged overnight as Donald Trump said he would impose tariffs on “all countries” and threatened to impose levies on Russian oil.