Asean currencies at the mercy of Trump’s tariff twists – here is how they stack up 

THE world found itself on the brink of a trade war last week as US President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again stance on tariffs came to a head, sending South-east Asian currencies into a spin.

The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s value against a basket of six major currencies – the euro, yen, pound, Canadian dollar, krona, and franc – rose some 1 per cent ahead of Feb 1, the day that earlier threatened tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China were supposed to kick in.

The index climbed to a relative peak of 109.874 around noon on Feb 3, and then eased to about 107.746 as at 2 pm on Thursday (Feb 6), as investor concerns eased amid expectations that the tariffs would be delayed or softened.