SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's factory activity contracted at the steepest pace in 31 months in April as demand plunged on U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, while firms turned most pessimistic since the pandemic, a private-sector survey showed on Friday.

The first set of S&P Global’s purchasing managers indexes since the Trump administration announced sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries signaled a pullback in manufacturing in the region last month.

Manufacturing activity across most of Asia contracted in April, with companies struggling with weaker demand and pausing new orders in the face of US President Donald Trump’s baseline 10% tariff.