“The future between our two countries will be a very bright one!” the president tweeted.
Trump announces new tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese goods
The U.S. will impose an additional 10 percent tariff on $300 billion in Chinese imports starting next month, President Donald Trump announced Thursday via tweet.
Wall Street immediately pulled back on the news, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling from a 300-point gain to a decline of almost 200 points. The price of crude oil tumbled by 8 percent on concern over the global fallout of Trump’s latest salvo. Caterpillar, John Deere, and Apple, all of which have a large exposure to China, saw their stock fall by around 2 percent on the news; and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to its lowest level since 2016.
Dow drops as Trump announces new tariffs on China
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin just returned from trade talks in Shanghai, where little progress appeared to have been made. The negotiations reportedly ended early. A new meeting had been set up for September, the White House said earlier this week.
Trump’s tweet comes in the wake of an 11:30 a.m. ET meeting at the White House, when Trump’s trade team briefed the president on how the negotiations went. The ensuing tweets suggest that Trump is frustrated with China’s lack of follow-through.
“We thought we had a deal with China three months ago, but sadly, China decided to re-negotiate the deal prior to signing,” wrote Trump in a series of tweets Thursday afternoon.
“More recently, China agreed to buy agricultural product from the U.S. in large quantities, but did not do so. Additionally, my friend President Xi said that he would stop the sale of Fentanyl to the United States – this never happened, and many Americans continue to die!” Trump tweeted.
“Trade talks are continuing, and during the talks the U.S. will start, on September 1st, putting a small additional Tariff of 10% on the remaining 300 Billion Dollars of goods and products coming from China into our Country. This does not include the 250 Billion Dollars already Tariffed at 25%… We look forward to continuing our positive dialogue with China on a comprehensive Trade Deal, and feel that the future between our two countries will be a very bright one!”
The trade war between China and the U.S., the world’s two largest economies, has rocked markets across the world for the last year and a half.
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