In the speech, held a bit into the Asian morning trading session, Trump, among other things, urged countries to "show courage" and secure shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
During the approximately 20 minutes that the US president spoke, several indices began to turn downward. The Kospi in Seoul is falling sharply and is down approximately 4.2 percent at local lunchtime.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo is down 1.9 percent and the broader Topix is down 1.2 percent.
In China, the declines are smaller. Shenzhen is down 0.9 percent and Shanghai is down 0.3 percent. The Hong Kong-based Hang Seng is down 1.0 percent.
