Asian stocks are on the back foot on Trump’s protectionist agenda

Major Asian indices dropped along with the US dollar as fears about Trump’s protectionist policies forced investors to move out of risky assets and into safe havens - gold, Yen, treasuries. 

At the time of writing, Japan’s Nikkei index was down 1.11%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was trading 0.75% lower on the day. China’s Shanghai Composite index avoided losses, but traded largely flat on the day. 

Trump sounded protectionist as he pledged to end what he called an "American carnage" of rusted factories and vowed to put "America first". Trump also intends to withdraw from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact and is planning to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Thus, the risk assets are having a hard time in Asia. Gold rallied 1% to $1217/Oz levels, while the 10-yr treasury yield dropped almost four basis points.