Our live coverage of China’s new round of retaliatory tariffs has ended. Scroll through the posts below to see how it unfolded or follow CNN Business.
President Trump announced a new round of tariffs on China, set to start Oct. 1.
The President tweeted that “the 250 BILLION DOLLARS of goods and products from China, currently being taxed at 25%, will be taxed at 30%.”
The announcement came after Beijing unveiled a new round of retaliatory tariffs on about $75 billion worth of US goods. China will place additional tariffs of 5% or 10% on US imports starting on Sept. 1, according to a statement posted by China’s Finance Ministry.
Read Trump’s tweets:
US stocks finished deep in the red on Friday, falling sharply amid worries about the worsening relationship between the United States and China.
China announced this morning it would impose tariffs on $75 billion worth of American goods. President Trump expressed his frustration about the developments, tweeting the US didn’t “need” China and urging American businesses to “immediately start looking for an alternative to China.”
It was the worst day for stocks since August 14. All three indexes ended the week in negative territory, marking their fourth down-week in a row.
Shares of companies sensitive to the trade tensions, such as Apple (AAPL), Intel (INTC) and IBM (IBM), led losers in the Dow. Boeing (BA) was the only Dow component that ended the day in the green.
The Dow fell 700 points, or 2.8%, on Friday as the market selloff intensified following an escalation in the US-China trade war.
The Dow fell 600 points, or 2.3%, today with less than half an hour left in the trading day as the market selloff intensified.
China threatened another round of tariffs today on $75 billion of US-made goods.
The move was in response to President Tump’s promise earlier this month to impose tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods — though he relented and agreed to hold off on most of that until December to avoid hitting Christmas shoppers in the United States.
Here’s how China’s tariffs will affect the US:
David French is a government relations executive at the National Retail Federation, the powerful Washington trade organization representing America’s biggest sellers. He had this to say about President Trump’s tweet calling on companies to stop doing business in China:
The National Farmers Union issued a statement today regarding China’s tariffs on US goods.
Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, said President Trump was making things worse for farmers.
Read Johnson’s statement:
With two hours left at the end of another long week, US stocks are down about 2%. It’s been another rough day. But look at the year-to-date performances of three primary indices:
The bond market is trying to tell us something: The yield curve keeps inverting, flashing a warning sign that a recession could be coming.
And the yield curve inverted again today. An inverted yield curve is when shorter-term rates are higher than longer-term bond yields. This doesn’t happen often. Before this month, the key 2 year/10 year rates hadn’t inverted since 2007, just before the Great Recession.
Why does this matter? Inverted yield curves have preceded every US recession in the modern era.
Smart take: Yield curve inversions are a sign of just how nervous investors are about the immediate outlook for the economy. They are demanding higher rates for short-term loans, which is not normal.
Typically, investors expect to get paid a higher rate of return when they are lending money for a longer period of time, because the risks are higher.
The CNN Business Fear & Greed Index, which uses seven market indicators to calculate a measure of investor sentiment, has moved from fear to extreme fear.
That’s not surprising. Markets are rocky. The VIX index of volatility is up 25% today.
President Trump has a lot of power to make things happen in this country.
But being president does have its limits. The job is president, not dictator, after all.
And again on Friday morning, Trump showed he doesn’t totally grasp that crucial difference — as he took to Twitter to protest $75 billion in new tariffs imposed by China.
In a series of tweets, Trump said, “Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing our companies HOME and making your products in the USA.”
Here’s the thing: Trump can’t order American business to do anything. There’s a reason the business world is known as the “private sector” — because it’s not owned or controlled by the government (aka the “public sector.”) We don’t have state-run industry (or media). The President of the United States can’t “order” privately held business to do, well, much of anything.
Now, that doesn’t mean that Trump can’t have any influence. Every CEO will be apprised of Trump’s tweets — if they haven’t already been — and some, in an effort to cozy up to Trump or because they agree with him about the threat posed by China, will look for ways to divest in the country.
But that’s very different than companies having to look for alternatives to China because the President said so. They, uh, don’t.
The Dow fell more than 500 points, or 2%, today as the market selloff worsened.
Myron Brilliant, executive vice president and head of international affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce, is encouraging the United States and China to not give up on trade talks.
In a new statement, Brilliant said:
President Trump’s tweet stating that Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell did “nothing” at an annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is wrong, CNN’s Allison Kosik reported.
Here’s why? It would be inappropriate for the central bank to take any action before their meeting in September, Kosik noted.
As he scrambles to respond to China’s announcement of retaliatory tariffs, President Trump is huddling with his trade team at the White House currently, a person familiar said.
Trump is aiming to unveil his response to China by the afternoon.
In a series of tweets shortly after China’s announcement, Trump angrily ordered all US companies to begin the process of ending business with China – but it is unclear how he could turn that decree into a policy response.
The Dow’s volatile morning continues. It is now down 400 points after Trump’s comments on China and the Fed.
Myron Brilliant, executive vice president and head of international affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce, issued the following statement in response to China’s new tariffs on US goods:
Some context: Beijing earlier today unveiled a new round of tariffs on $75 billion worth of US imports, including soybeans and crude oil.
The Dow fell more than 300 points, or 1.2% today after President Trump issued a series of tweets expressing frustration with China and the US Federal Reserve.
Trump said he will be responding to China’s latest tariff move “this afternoon.”
Beijing earlier today unveiled a new round of tariffs on $75 billion worth of US imports, including soybeans and crude oil.
“Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China,” Trump tweeted.
Trump also expressed anger at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Powell in a speech today did not indicate if the central bank has plans for another interest rate cut. Trump has been calling for further cuts to rates.
The President said he will be responding to the tariffs “this afternoon.”
In a series of tweets, he expresses frustration with China, and says, “Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China.”
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