EMERGING MARKETS-Latam FX down, dollar up as Trump announces tariffs on many trade partners

By Ragini Mathur and Shashwat Chauhan

July 7 (Reuters) - Most Latin American currencies weakened against the dollar on Monday as risk assets sold off globally after U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs on several trading partners including South Africa and Malaysia.

The Korean won KRW= depreciated 0.9% against the dollar after Trump said the United States would impose a 25% tariff on imports from South Korea from August 1 and unveiled the first of an expected 12 letters to trade partners outlining the new levies they face.

U.S.-listed shares of South Korean flatscreen-maker LG Electronics 066570.KS also slumped 7.5%.

South Africa's rand ZAR= depreciated 1.6% after Trump announced the U.S. would impose 30% tariffs on goods imported from the country.

The rand was already reeling as Trump earlier in the day threatened an additional 10% tariff on any country aligning with the "Anti-American policies" of the BRICS group of developing nations, whose leaders are meeting in Brazil.

While BRICS countries brushed away the accusation, their assets took a hit. BRICS member Brazil's currency, the real BRL=, dropped 1.1% to 5.48 per dollar and the local stocks index .BVSP shed 1.3%.

Trump also announced 25% tariffs on Malaysia and Kazakhstan and 40% on Laos and Myanmar.

Longer-dated dollar bonds of Kazakhstan XS1263139856=TE, XS1120709826=TE were down about 0.2 cents on the dollar, according to Tradeweb data. The iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF EWM.P slid 2.1% in U.S. trading.

The dollar index =USD, meanwhile, firmed 0.5%, bouncing from its lowest level since 2022.

Mexico's peso MXN= shed 0.4% in the face of the global dollar strength. The Chilean peso CLP= also dipped 1.5%, with sliding copper prices hitting the currency of the world's biggest exporter of the red metal.

Trump said on Sunday the U.S. was close to finalizing several trade pacts in the coming days and would notify other countries by July 9 of higher tariff rates, which would not come into effect until August 1.

In April, he had announced a base tariff rate of 10% on most countries and additional duties of up to 50%, though he later delayed the effective date for all but the 10% until July 9. The new date offers countries a three-week reprieve.

The back and forth on how U.S. trade policy would be implemented has revived uncertainty, pushing traders to sell off riskier assets.

"Historically, fully fledged trade deals take, on average, three years to conclude, not three months," Morgan Stanley analysts, led by chief global economist Seth Carpenter, said in a note.

"Our best guess is that any near-term announcements will not be comprehensive and permanent, and will likely be some kind of blanket agreement."

Dollar-denominated bonds of frontier nations including Egypt, Ghana, Uruguay and Nigeria fell across the board.

In Latin America, MSCI's broad gauge for Latin American equities .MILA00000PUS dropped 1.9%, set to snap a five-day winning streak.

Argentinian shares .MERV were the worst hit, clocking a near 2% drop while Mexican equities .MXX eased 0.5%.

Interest-rate decisions in Romania, Malaysia and Peru will be on the radar later this week. Minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's last policy meeting are due on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, Turkey's international bonds and lira TRYTOM=D3 weakened on Monday and the cost of insuring government debt against default rose following weekend detentions of opposition mayors.

HIGHLIGHTS

** Bank of Israel keeps rates on hold as inflation stays just above target range

** Brazil to return to global bond market this year, Treasury Secretary says

** Colombia's Ecopetrol buys wind power project from Enel for $50 million

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies: