New Delhi [India], April 7 (ANI): Chinese stocks nosedived sharply on Monday after Beijing slapped back at the US with retaliatory tariffs, sparking fears of a persistent trade war between two major economies.

At the time of filing this report, the Hang Seng Index was about 12 percent lower, and the Shanghai Composite Index was about 8 percent lower. If sustained, these would make for the benchmark's largest daily fall since the 2008 global financial crisis, according to reports.

According to a Reuters report, shares in online giants Alibaba and Tencent were down more than 10 percent.

Hong Kong-listed shares of HSBC tumbled 13 per cent to head for their largest daily fall since 2009, and Standard Chartered stock was down more than 16 per cent, on course for a record fall, per the Reuters report.

As part of the reciprocal tariffs announcement, US President Donald Trump imposed 34 per cent duties on Chinese goods. Faced with the tariffs, China retaliated with a similar degree of tariffs on US goods, setting off a potential trade war, and dampening investors' sentiment for the time being.

'China struck back at the U.S tariffs imposed by Trump with a slew of counter-measures including extra levies of 34 per cent on all U.S. goods and export curbs on some rare-earths, deepening the trade war between the world's two biggest economies,' said Manav Modi, Senior Analyst, Commodity Research at Motilal Oswal Financial services Ltd.

Since assuming office for his second term, President Trump has reiterated his stance on tariff reciprocity, emphasising that the United States will match tariffs imposed by other countries, including China, to ensure fair trade.

On April 2, the US President issued an executive order on reciprocal tariffs, imposing additional ad valorem duties ranging from 10 per cent to 50 per cent on imports from all trading partners. The baseline duty of 10 per cent will be effective from April 05, 2025, and the remaining country-specific additional ad valorem duty will be effective from April 09, 2025.

'Globally, markets are going through heightened volatility caused by extreme uncertainty. No one has a clue about how this turbulence caused by Trump tariffs will evolve,' said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services. (ANI)