Asian stocks declined on Tuesday as fresh U.S. trade measures against China and President Donald Trump's comments that tariffs on Canada and Mexico 'will go forward' rekindled fears of a global trade war.
The dollar strengthened on risk-off sentiment, pushing gold prices lower from record highs. Oil extended gains amid fresh sanctions on Iran and a commitment to compensate for overproduction by Iraq.
China's Shanghai Composite index dipped 0.80 percent to 3,346.04 as the optimism about China's tech sector cooled off and trade war fears resurfaced.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 1.32 percent to 23,034.02 after the Donald Trump administration targeted China with new trade and investment restrictions, further straining relations between the two economic giants.
Alibaba Group Holding shares tumbled 3.8 percent after the company's American depositary receipts fell 10 percent, the biggest decline since October 2022.
The People's Bank of China conducted one-year medium-term lending facility operations on Tuesday and the interest rate on MLF was kept unchanged. The central bank issued CNY 300 billion of one-year MLF at a rate of 2.0 percent. The interest rate was unchanged from the previous operation. Following the operation, the outstanding MLF balance was CNY 4.09 trillion.