Ahead of the major Trump tariff announcement, Asian stocks stagnate.

As investors anxiously awaited significant tariff pronouncements from U.S. President Donald Trump later in the global day, Asian markets struggled for direction in range-bound trading on Wednesday.

In the early hours of Asia, U.S. stock futures were likewise quiet. Due to increases in technology companies, major U.S. stock indices ended Tuesday's trading session higher.

Markets are on guard as Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs approach.

On April 2, Trump is scheduled to apply reciprocal tariffs to a wide variety of trading partners. Following this move, known as "Liberation Day," a 25% auto import duty will go into effect on April 3.

According to White House officials on Tuesday, Trump will announce the new trade duties at 15:00 ET (19:00 GMT), and the measures would go into force right away.

President Trump would apply the maximum retaliatory tariffs on major trading partners on April 2, Bessent informed legislators on Tuesday, leaving the targeted nations to lower the penalties by complying with U.S. demands, according to CNBC.

Global market players are waiting for detailed tariff information.

Market activity was muted because investors were probably waiting to see how these tariffs would affect the dynamics of international commerce.

On Wednesday, the Nikkei 225 in Japan was mostly quiet, and the TOPIX had a 0.6% decline.

The Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 index remained mostly steady, although China's Shanghai Composite increased by 0.2%.

The Hang Seng index for Hong Kong increased by 0.4%.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 increased by a mere 0.2%, while Singapore's Straits Times Index dropped by 0.4%.

India's Nifty 50 futures saw a slight increase of 0.2%.