ASX 200 sinks as US President Donald Trump vows 50 per cent tariffs on copper, 200 per cent levies on pharmaceuticals
The index is down about 0.3 per cent after the first hour of trading with gold and copper company Evolution Mining sinking 7.9 per cent, Genesis Mineral shedding 5.8 per cent and copper miner Sandfire Resources slumping 5.2 per cent.
Retirement village company Lifestyle Communities is down about 29 per cent after a court ruling found its lucrative exit fees were invalid.
Investors are also watching Rio Tinto (up 0.4 per cent) and BHP (flat) which will face a hit from a copper mine they jointly run in Chile.
Trump told reporters he is considering a raft of tariffs as the deadline for his 'Liberation Day' tariffs suspension looms.
'I believe the tariff on copper, we're going to make it 50 per cent,' Trump told reporters.
He also plans to hit pharmaceuticals which could threaten major Australian companies such as the ASX's third largest company CSL.
Medicinal and pharmaceutical products continue to be Australia's third largest export to the US behind gold and meat.
'They're going to be tariffed at a very, very high rate, like 200 per cent,' Trump said.
'We'll give them a certain period of time to get their act together.'
Wall Street sank again on Tuesday with the Dow Jones falling 0.4 per cent, the S&P 500 sliding 0.1 per cent and the Nasdaq finishing flat.
London's FTSE 250 jumped 0.2 per cent, Germany's DAX added 0.6 per cent and the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.4 per cent.
New Zealand's NZX 50 Index has shed 0.8 per cent while Japan's Nikkei 225 is flat.
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