US equity futures dropped ahead of Wednesday's opening bell as investors awaited the minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy setting meeting, while the global tariff situation hangs in the backdrop.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 1.8%, S&P 500 futures fell 1.4%, and Nasdaq futures were 1% lower.

China said it is increasing tariffs on imports from the US to 84% starting April 10, which follows the White House decision to lift its import levy on Chinese goods to 104%.

Oil prices were lower, with front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude down 5.5% at $59.35 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude 5.8% lower at $56.14 per barrel.

The Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to release the minutes from its latest meeting at 2 pm ET.

In other world markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 3.9% lower, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 0.7% higher, and China's Shanghai Composite finished 1.3% higher. Meanwhile, UK's FTSE 100 fell 3.3%, Germany's DAX index dropped 4.3%, France's CAC 40 fell 4.1%, and Spain's IBEX 35 fell 3.4% in Europe's early afternoon session.

In equities, shares of Bloom Energy (BE) were 5.2% lower after Redburn Atlantic downgraded the stock to sell from a neutral rating and cut its price target to $10 from $14.50.