Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo are major U.S. trading partners, although they have been at loggerheads among themselves over issues, including territorial disputes.

The European Union and major Asian economies have begun putting in place measures, ahead of Donald Trump's announcement at the White House.

Export manufacturing and free trade helped transform China and other Asian countries into economic powerhouses. U.S.

China, Japan, and South Korea agreed to a joint response to US tariffs after their first economic dialogue in five years. They plan to strengthen supply chains, cooperate on export controls, and pursue a free trade agreement.

After their first trilateral economic meeting in over five years, China, Japan and South Korea vowed to strengthen their trading ties.

As per Chinese State Media, the three neighbouring countries held their first economic dialogue in five years, in which they discussed how to counter the tariffs from the United States.

Japan and South Korea are seeking to import semiconductor raw materials from China, and China is also interested in purchasing chip products from Japan and South Korea, the account, Yuyuan Tantian, said in a post on Weibo.

What Trump ultimately decides to announce on tariffs will be “effective immediately,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. That is logistically dubious, but if that is the case, other nations would have little time to negotiate and could respond by immediately imposing countermeasures such as retaliatory tariffs.