Mexico, Argentina stocks in freefall over Trump tariffs
Mexican stocks plunged 4.87% on Friday, despite the country being left off US President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs list, amid panic on global markets over the start of a trade war.
Argentine stocks also took a battering, falling more than 7% in Friday trading, two days after Trump imposed sweeping import duties on dozens of nations including Argentina.
The Mexican rout came despite stocks ending marginally up on Thursday, by 0.54%, reflecting initial relief in Latin America's second-biggest economy at having dodged Trump's so-called "Liberation Day" tariffs.
If Mexico was spared, Latin America's biggest economy Brazil, and Argentina, the third-largest, were not.
Argentina's flagship Merval Index fell 7.38% while Brazil's Bovespa Index lost 2.96%.
Both countries were hit with 10% tariffs, like much of Latin America -- at the lower end of a spectrum ranging upwards to 50%.
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