(March 4): Most emerging Asian equities slipped on Tuesday, as US President Donald Trump'simport tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China took effect.

In response, China announced 10%-15% hikes to import levies covering a range of American agricultural and food products, raising the risk of the world's top two economies descending into all-out trade war.

The Mexican peso fell as much as 0.7% to a one-month low against the US dollar, while the Canadian dollar was down as much as 0.3%.

The Chinese yuan pared some gains after tariffs came into effect. Investors will be closely watching the National People's Congress meeting on March 5 for the size of new stimulus measures.

Trump implemented 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico from 0501 GMT on Tuesday, along with a doubling of levies on Chinese goods to 20%.

Among emerging Asian equities, stocks in Indonesia slipped the most, falling as much as 1.8% and paring gains from Monday, while stocks in Malaysia dipped 0.9% to around a one-month low.

Analysts at Barclays said semiconductors are a key pressure point in the emerging Asia region, with Malaysia standing out in terms of its vulnerability to semiconductor tariffs.

In addition, "Indonesia no longer looks as insulated from critical import tariffs once agricultural products are included, even if its exposure still seems relatively small within Emerging Asia," Barclays said.

Stocks in Taipei fell 0.7%, with chip giant TSMC weighing the most on the benchmark, dipping as much as 2.4%.

Wei-Liang Chang, macro strategist at DBS Bank, expects subdued recovery for Asian equities in the medium term, "until we see signs of negotiations around trade bearing fruit."

Currencies in emerging Asia seemed to be more resilient, however, with Thailand's baht and the Indonesian rupiah appreciating 0.2% each.

But the Philippine peso slipped 0.2%.

"Positioning in EM Asian forex is really pretty low, so most Asian currencies are somewhat undervalued," Chang added.

Economic data are also queued up for various emerging Asian countries this week, including inflation readings from the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.

Traders also expect Malaysia's central bank to hold its key rates at 3% at its meeting on Thursday.

Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja