Asian investors trod cautiously as Donald Trump's deadline to avert his steep tariffs approached, with the US president saying he planned to start sending letters informing trading partners of their rates.
Uncertainty leading up to next week's cut-off tempered the positive lead from another record on Wall Street, where a forecast-busting US jobs report soothed worries about the world's top economy.
Governments around the world have fought to hammer out deals with Washington ahead of the July 9 deadline, set after Trump unveiled a blitz of levies on his "Liberation Day" in early April.
He and his top officials have said several were in the pipeline, but only Britain and Vietnam have signed pacts, while China has agreed to a framework for it, and the United States has agreed to slash tit-for-tat tolls and ship certain products.
While negotiators continue to seek ways to avert the worst of the White House's measures, Trump warned Thursday he would soon be issuing his messages to capitals.
"I incline to send a letter out and say what tariff they're going to be paying," he told reporters. "It's just much easier."
He added, "We're going to be sending some letters out, starting probably tomorrow, maybe 10 a day, to various countries saying what they're going to pay to do business with the US."
The prospect that trading partners from Japan and South Korea to India and Taiwan could be hit with stiff tariffs fuelled fresh worries about the global economy.
Tokyo edged up with Shanghai, Sydney, Wellington, and Jakarta, but Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, and Manila fell.
Traders were unable to pick up the baton from their New York colleagues, who sent the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to more record closes ahead of the Independence Day break.
Those gains followed data showing the US economy topped expectations to add 147,000 jobs in June while unemployment dipped to 4.1 percent from 4.2 percent, which was also better than estimated.
