Investing.com - Asian markets were mixed in morning trade on Tuesday, with Chinese stocks trading lower on reports that the U.S. is considering imposing tariffs on all remaining Chinese imports by early December.
Citing three people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. is preparing to impose tariffs on the remaining $257 billion of Chinese imports if talks in November between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping do not go well.
Overnight, the S&P 500 dipped into correction territory but pared losses in the final minutes of trading. The NASDAQ Composite fell the lowest level since May.
The CBOE Global Markets volatility index surged to 27.86 points, its second highest level since the volatility shock of early February.
“We are in the middle of a pretty nasty dispute. We’re in a trade dispute -- I want to use that word because it’s a nice, soft word -- but we’re going to win,” Trump said on Saturday at an event in Indiana. “You know why? ‘Cause we always win.”
In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Composite slipped 0.1% and 0.3% by 9:52 PM ET (01:52 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.3%.
China's yuan dipped and hovered near two-year lows after the People’s Bank of China set its official yuan midpoint at the lowest fixing in more than a decade.
Separately, reports on Monday said Beijing is considering a tax cut to support the local automotive market.
Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) AG recorded its biggest intraday move since 2016 and rose 7% following the news, while Ford Motor (NYSE:F) and General Motors (NYSE:GM) also jumped.
Meanwhile, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (DE:BMWG) and Daimler AG (DE:DAIGn) also closed higher in Germany.
Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.3%. South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.5%.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 traded 0.4% higher in morning trade.