Continuing jitters about US tariffs hit Asian stocks in early trade on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei tumbling more than five percent and gold hitting another record high.

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, acknowledged a "cost" to his surging trade offensive against superpower rival China. Levies on Chinese imports are now at a total of 145 percent.

China has retaliated with levies of 84 percent on US imports

In early trade, the Nikkei 225 was off 5.4 percent, having soared 9.1 percent on Thursday after Trump paused many tariffs for 90 days.

Other markets also handed back many of their gains of the previous day, with the Kospi in Seoul off 1.64 percent and Sydney down more than two percent.

Oil and the US dollar also slid on fears of a global slowdown in economic activity, while gold hit a new record.

Fellow safe-haven asset the yen also gained 0.9 percent against the dollar on Friday.

Trump maintained a 10 percent blanket tariff on most countries.

But he paused plans for tariffs of 20 percent on the European Union and even higher levies on multiple other trade partners, including 24 percent on Japan.

Trump said on Thursday that the EU was "very smart" to back off from imposing retaliatory tariffs because of his tough stance on China even as the bloc's chief warned it could tax US Big Tech.

"(The EU) were ready to announce retaliation. And then they heard about what we did with respect to China... and they said, you know, 'We're going to hold back a little bit,'" Trump said.

He acknowledged "a transition cost and transition problems," but dismissed global market turmoil.

"In the end it's going to be a beautiful thing." (AFP)