Jse Opens Lower As Us Tariffs Fuel Global Trade Tensions

Stocks on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange JSE opened in the red following a weaker session in Asia, with investors taking cover as new United States US tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China took effect, threatening to escalate global trade tensions.

The All Share index started the day trading at more than half a percent down with local bond yields up.

Market Analyst Viv Governder says US President Donald Trumps tariffs have been viewed quite negatively by the market.

"I think the only positive factor around his tariffs has been the fact that people had come to the belief that he was not being really serious about them, except for maybe around China, but the agent of the serious tariffs in places like Mexico and Canada was viewed as, you know, unlikely."

He says, "However, in the recent days, its been declared that he is planning to do some significant tariffs against. Countries and that would be quite negative, not just for Canada and Mexico obviously, but also negative the US economy, and there has been actually been some evidence that the US economy in the first quarter of 2025, maybe in negative territory at the moment," Governder says. -Reporting by Tshepo Mongoai and Sharlene Botha.