Stocks across Asia went into freefall due to fears over a global trade war in the wake of China retaliating against Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index plunged 7.37%. The Taiex, the weighted index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange, plunged 9.8% at the open as trading resumed after a long weekend.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 9.3%, while in mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 4.4%.

In India, the “The Nifty 50” comprising the largest Indian companies on the national stock exchange, fell more than 3.5% at the open on Monday.

China, now facing US tariffs of more than 50%, retaliated in kind on Friday by imposing additional levies on US imports.

Japan’s Nikkei stock index plunged further on Monday, as US futures pointed to more losses on Wall Street over President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

In early trade in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 8.15%, adding to a 2.75% drop on Friday, while in Seoul, the Kospi was down 4.8%.

Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said the government will continue to ask Trump to lower tariffs on Japan, but acknowledged that results “won’t come overnight.”

Global markets continued to reel on Monday from US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements last week.

Trump, who said “tariffs” was one of his favorite words, has appeared prepared to stick to his policy of blanket tariffs, despite the massive amount of value that has already been wiped from stock markets around the world.

The response from countries hit by the tariffs has included both retaliatory actions and attempts to find an agreement with the White House.

EU trade ministers are set to meet on Monday to figure out what their unified response to the tariffs should be.