Markets in Asia tumbled during morning trading Friday, a day after U.S. markets retreated in the wake of a White House announcement saying tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States would rise to 145 percent, up from 125 percent.

Japan's Nikkei 225 and Topix indexes dropped by more than 4 percent. South Korea's Kospi and Australia's ASX 200 fell by almost 2 percent, while Taiwan's bourse kicked off the day with a fall of under 1 percent before logging a tiny gain of under 0.5 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and China's Shanghai composite index netted losses of under 1 percent in early trading.

The drops came after similar falls in the U.S. markets. The S&P 500 fell 3.46 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 4.26 percent on Thursday, while the more narrow Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.54 percent. Those moves followed news that the White House had said it would be hiking import duties on Chinese exports to the United States to 145 percent.

The drops came just a day after a rally from the previous day, when the same markets posted big gains and the S&P 500 had its biggest one-day jump since 2008.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a 90-day pause on blanket tariffs that he had imposed on more than six dozen countries, although he said he would be keeping steep import duties on China and some other tariffs — including a baseline global tariff of 10 percent.

Washington and Beijing are now locked in an escalating tit-for-tat trade war that is increasing market volatility. The White House announcement raising tariffs on Chinese goods came one day after Beijing sharply criticized Trump's decision to increase tariffs on China to a minimum 125 percent and punched back with a limit on U.S. films allowed into the Chinese market.

Source: Bloomberg