China ADRs rallied in Thursday trading. Trump late on Wednesday announced plans for long-promised 25% tariffs on automotive imports. Analysts expect the move to hit European, Japanese and South Korean companies at most.

Trump also said planned reciprocal tariffs on all countries will be "lenient". On China, he said he may give Beijing some reduction in tariffs to get a deal done to sell TikTok.

iQiyi up 8%; Niu Technologies up 7%; Bilibili up 4%; YINN, Alibaba, JD.com up 3%; PDD rose 1%.

Jason Chan, a senior investment strategist at Bank of East Asia, said Chinese automakers have limited exposure to the U.S. market, while Trump's comment about TikTok suggest there is room for negotiations.

"It now looks like he's more aggressive toward other markets instead of focusing all his efforts on China, so that could somehow help cushion the sentiment for China and Hong Kong," said Chan.

Gains in Chinese shares helped MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan to trade flat on Thursday.