U.S. stocks are falling sharply after President Donald Trump said tariffs he announced on Canada and Mexico will take effect at the end of the day.

A private survey showed American factory activity last month edged closer to stagnation—slowing growth combined with faster inflation—as new orders and employment contracted. A gauge of prices paid for materials jumped to the highest since June 2022. So how should investors react to all this smoke on the horizon?

Mirroring the selloff on Wall Street overnight, most Asian markets slumped up to 2 per cent today as tariff threats are turning into action, dragging domestic benchmarks at start.