Asian stock markets ground lower Tuesday after US President Donald Trump raised tariffs on China-made imports to 20% from 10% and said that tariffs of 25% on Canadian and Mexican imports would proceed as planned.

Hong Kong and Tokyo finished in the red, while Shanghai edged higher. Other regional exchanges lost ground.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened lower on trade outlooks and could not recover, finishing off 1.2%, as a stronger yen undercut export issues.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 454.29 to 37,331.18, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 154 to 66.

Leading the upside was heavy-equipment maker IHI, gaining almost 12%, while Furukawa Electric declined 8.8%.

In economic news, Japan's unemployment rate was unchanged sequentially at 2.5% in January, reported the Statistics Bureau.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened lower, gained ground but still finished off 0.3% on international trade outlooks.

The broad gauge Hang Seng fell 64.50 to 22,941.77 as gaining issues outnumbered losers 41 to 38. The Hang Seng TECH Index was even on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index ticked 0.1% higher.

Leading the upside was Chow Tai Fook Jewellery, gaining 5.3%, while automaker BYD declined 6.8% after disclosing plan to issue more shares.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.2% to 3,324.21.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI fell 0.2%; the Taiwan TWSE declined 0.7%; the Australian ASX 200 shed 0.6%; the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.5%, and the Thai Set lost 0.9%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was down 0.1%.

In other news, the ASEAN final manufacturing purchasing managers index for February posted at 51.5, up from 50.4 in January, and rising further above the 50-marker that separates growth from contraction, reported S&P Global (SPGI).

The ASEAN nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are included in the S&P Global surveys.