Black Monday jitters: Donald Trump says ‘can’t tell what’s going to happen’ as Asian markets bleed

The US President Donald Trump said that “sometimes you have to take medicine” as Asian markets, incuding India's Sensex and Nifty, collapse on Monday, and asserted that he was not deliberately triggering a market selloff.

What Trump said on market selloffs?

"I don't want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," Trump said about market crash while speaking reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from a weekend of golfing in Florida.

"We have been treated so badly by other countries because we had stupid leadership that allowed this to happen," he added.

“What’s going to happen to the markets I can’t tell you. But our country is much stronger," Trump said.

How Trump plans to deal with trade partners?

He showed no signs of backing away from his tariff plans and asserted that trade partners are "coming to the table" and “want to talk.”

“I spoke to a lot of leaders, European, Asian, from all over the world," Trump said. "They’re dying to make a deal. And I said, we’re not going to have deficits with your country. We’re not going to do that, because to me a deficit is a loss. We’re going to have surpluses or at worst, going to be breaking even.”

What Trump said on trade deal with China?

On the topic of China, Trump said he would not make a deal unless the trade deficit is solved. However, he has spoken to European and Asian leaders on the tariffs rolled out by his administration, Trump added.

“We have to solve our trade deficit,” particularly with China, Trump said. He said he wouldn’t make a deal unless it drives down the US trade deficit in goods with China. “I want that solved,” he said.

Will US face recession?

Trump's Cabinet members and economic advisers were out in force Sunday, defending the tariffs and downplaying the consequences for the global economy.

“There doesn’t have to be a recession. Who knows how the market is going to react in a day, in a week?" Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “What we are looking at is building the long-term economic fundamentals for prosperity.”

How the Asian markets reacted on Monday?

Asian markets saw a turbulent start on Monday as Wall Street futures tumbled and investors bet that growing recession risks in the US could prompt rate cuts as early as May.

India's Nifty 50 and the BSE Sensex trimmed some losses from the pre-open trade, declining 3.84% to 22,030.25 and 3.72% to 72,600.53, respectively as the market opened. All 13 major sectors logged losses.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost nearly 8% shortly after the market opened. An hour later it was down 7.1% at 31,375.71.

South Korea's Kospi lost 5.5% to 2,328.52, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 6.3% to 7,184.70.

Oil prices sank further, with U.S. benchmark crude down 4%, or $2.50, at $59.49 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up $2.25 to $63.33 a barrel.

On Sunday, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures fell nearly 4% while Nasdaq futures were down nearly 5%. Even the price of bitcoin, which held relatively stable last week, fell nearly 6% Sunday. US futures took a hit as the tariffs continued to roil the markets.

The US customs agents began collecting Trump's unilateral 10% tariff on all imports from many countries on Saturday. Higher "reciprocal" tariff rates of 11% to 50% on individual countries are due to take effect on Wednesday

(With inputs from agencies)