Sunset scene of light tracks traffic speed through an intersection in the Gangnam central business district of Seoul in the city of Seoul, South Korea
Mongkol Chuewong | moment | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are expected to open higher on Monday, brushing aside post-US Presidential concerns Donald Trump announced over the weekend that it would increase global tariffs from 10% to 15%.
The move followed a Supreme Court decision that struck down much of the president’s trade agenda implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA).
Nevertheless, US trading partners are not fazed, said Claudio Galimberti, chief economist at Rystad Energy.
“While the Supreme Court ruling invalidates much of existing tariffs and weakens the ability to target individual countries, it does not dismantle the broader tariff framework,” he wrote in a note following the announcement.
If the rate cap is reached without prior IEEPA waivers, the average rate could rise even higher than under the structure the Supreme Court just struck down, Galimberti added.
Australia S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.17% in early trading.
Futures for Hong Kong Hang Seng Index was at 26,855, above the previous closing price of 26,413.35.
Markets in China and Japan were closed for a holiday.
Oil prices have recently traded lower, erasing previous gains. International scale Brent Crude oil futures fell 0.6% to $71.33 a barrel, while U.S West Texas Middle School Futures were down 0.78% at $65.96.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling is a setback … but it does not mean the end of his political agenda,” said Arthur Laffer, Jr., president of Laffer Tengler Investments.
Laffer said countries like Vietnam and India that have trade agreements with the U.S. should think twice before withdrawing from those agreements. He argued that trade remains a central pillar of Trump’s political and economic strategy and that the president will likely continue to push the issue.
On Friday, U.S. stocks rose following the Supreme Court’s ruling, potentially providing relief for companies burdened by higher costs from tariffs and easing concerns about stubborn inflation still weighing on the U.S. economy.
The S&P 500 rose 0.69% to close at 6,909.51, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.9% to settle at 22,886.07. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 230.81 points or 0.47% to end at 49,625.97. The 30-stock index recovered from a 200-point loss earlier in the session on disappointing economic data.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
