Islamabad (Newsman): The US dollar rose as US President-elect Donald Trump promised to impose high tariffs on the country’s largest trading partners, while Asian currencies also fell as the Mexican peso fell to a level not seen in almost two years on Tuesday.
Trump, who assumes office on January 20, 2025, had announced “an additional 10% tariff, above any additional tariffs” on Chinese imports and claimed he would put a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico.
As of 0745 GMT, the Mexican peso had fallen as much as 2.3% to almost its lowest level since August 2022, but it had since eased to trade down 1.7%. A four-and-a-half-year high was reached by the US dollar in relation to the Canadian dollar.
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In Asia, the dollar’s value against the Chinese yuan reached its highest point since July 30. The Indonesian rupiah and Malaysian ringgit, on the other hand, suffered the most, declining 0.4% apiece.
The peso saw a sudden decline, but Alex Loo, an FX and macro analyst at TD Securities in Singapore, suggested that the large movements in Asia might have been caused by the lack of liquidity outside of the North American time zone.
With analysts raising concerns about the export-focused country’s growing trade deficit with China, the Thai baht dropped as much as 0.4%.
From $10.49 billion in 2013, Thailand’s bilateral goods trade deficit with China grew steadily to $36.7 billion in 2023.
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Thailand’s top source of foreign direct investment and tourism revenue is China, and Trump’s tariffs on Mexico may have an impact on the products that are shipped from the Southeast Asian countries.
