US President Donald Trump says foreign governments will have to pay “a lot of money” to lift sweeping tariffs that he characterises as “medicine”, as financial markets anticipate another week of steep losses.

The ASX plunged on opening on Monday, down more than 6 per cent morning trading – effectively wiping about $156 billion off its market capitalisation, even more than had been expected.

It was the Australian market’s biggest fall its Covid plunge in March 2020.

All sectors were battered, with miners down 7.5 per cent, energy stocks down 8.3 per cent and financials down 6.9 per cent. Among notable falls were the Commonwealth Bank (down 8.1 per cent), BHP (down 8.9 per cent) and gaming machine manufacturer Aristocrat (down 10 per cent).

It had recovered a bit by midday (AEST), to be down 3.7 per cent.

Markets were also down in Asia and New Zealand as Trump indicated he was unconcerned about market losses that have already wiped out nearly $US6 ($A10) trillion in value from US stocks.

Asked aboard Air Force One on Sunday (US time) by a journalist if there was “pain in the market at some point you’re unwilling to tolerate?”, he lashed out.

“I think your question is so stupid,” Trump said.

“I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something, and we have such a horrible as we have been treated, so badly by other countries because we had stupid leadership that allowed this to happen.

“They took our businesses, they took our money, they took our jobs, they moved it to Mexico, they moved it to Canada, they moved a lot of it to China, and it’s not sustainable.

We’re not going to do it now. We have hundreds of billions of dollars that’s pouring into our country on a monthly basis, it’s pouring. It’s already started because I put tariffs on and eventually it’s going to straighten out and our country will be solid and strong again.”

Trump said he had spoken to leaders from Europe and Asia over the weekend, who hope to convince him to lower tariffs as high as 50 per cent due to take effect this week.

“They are coming to the table. They want to talk but there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis,” Trump said.

Trump’s tariff announcement last week jolted economies around the world, triggering retaliatory levies from China and sparking fears of a global trade war and recession.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government was concerned about the global share turmoil, which has hit the retirement savings accounts of millions.

“We do live in uncertain times, and we are concerned about the impact on global trade and the global economy,” Albanese said while campaigning in Melbourne on Monday.

“We’re seeing a considerable impact, negative impact, on the stock market that impacts Australians, because superannuation funds have their shares there … We are concerned, and will continue to engage.”

Later Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the escalating trade tensions were “casting a dark shadow”. He said it could lead to the Reserve Bank cutting interest rates in May by up to 50 basis points, but he wouldn’t “preempt those decisions”

“We are seeing very substantial volatility now in global stock markets and in our own markets as well. Today in Australia the market lost about 4 per cent of value; on Friday, the US about 6 per cent,” he said.

“What we’re seeing here is the impact of a series of bad decisions taken about tariffs. And the whole world is trying to get their head around the impacts on their own economies and the global economy as well.”

Trump’s top economic advisers took to US TV on Sunday morning (local time) to try to portray the hits as a savvy repositioning of the US in the global trade order.

They also tried to minimise the economic shocks from last week’s tumultuous rollout.

Wall Street stock futures opened sharply lower on Sunday, in a sign of further turbulence.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said more than 50 nations had started negotiations with the US since last Wednesday’s announcement.

“He’s created maximum leverage for himself,” Bessent said on NBC News’ Meet the Press.

Neither Bessent nor the other officials named the countries or offered details about the talks. But simultaneously negotiating with multiple governments could pose a logistical challenge for the Trump administration and prolong economic uncertainty.

Trump, meanwhile, spent the weekend in Florida, playing golf. He posted a video of his swing to social media on Sunday.

Bessent said there was “no reason” to anticipate a recession, citing stronger-than-anticipated US jobs growth last month, before the tariffs were announced.

JPMorgan economists estimate the tariffs will result in full-year US gross domestic product declining by 0.3 per cent, down from an earlier estimate of 1.3 per cent growth, and that the unemployment rate will climb to 5.3 per cent from 4.2 per cent now.

-with AAP