South Korean equities led a region-wide sell-off on Friday after the United States unveiled sweeping new tariffs and Seoul floated plans for higher corporate and securities taxes. The benchmark Kospi slumped as much as 3.7%, its steepest intraday decline since early April, before trading about 3% lower in late morning dealings. Late Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing duties of 10% to 41% on imports from dozens of trading partners. South Korean goods will face a 15% levy, rekindling worries over export growth. Semiconductor names bore the brunt of the move, with SK Hynix tumbling roughly 5% and market heavyweight Samsung Electronics off nearly 2%. Investor sentiment was further dented by the South Korean finance ministry’s proposal to lift every corporate tax bracket by one percentage point, raise the stock-transaction tax to 2%, and lower the threshold for capital-gains taxes on shareholdings to ₩1 trillion. Analysts said the combination of higher trade barriers abroad and heavier tax burdens at home could slow earnings momentum in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. The fallout rippled across the region: MSCI’s Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index slid about 1% and is on track for its weakest week since April. In the United States, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell roughly 400 points and Nasdaq-100 contracts lost 1% as traders awaited July non-farm payrolls for clues on whether the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates next month.