Whiplashed traders rode the gamut of the global trade war’s early permutations when China on Tuesday declared retaliatory tariffs against the United States, upending a brief window of market calm facilitated by Canada and Mexico’s reprieve.

In the dying minutes of Australian sharemarket trading China said it would implement 15 per cent tariffs on American coal and liquefied natural gas products, and a 10 per cent tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and certain vehicles.