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When it comes to reaching a trade deal with China, President Trump<Donald John TrumpSenate Democrats warn Trump: Don't invite Putin to G-7 Trump blames Fed for manufacturing slowdown Pence responds to Haley tweet: I'm looking forward to running with Trump in 2020 MORE may be his own worst enemy. Instead of accepting that he already has achieved the bulk of U.S. negotiating objectives — and effectively won the trade war — the president has been sidetracked by procedural issues and negotiating gambits that distract from the overall success of the administration’s policy. Just last Friday, the president created a...

When the White House decided to levy tariffs on goods from China, U.S. leaders were divided on whether a prolonged trade dispute was a wise course of action. Now, so is Beijing. China's leadership is being confronted by government factions offering contradictory approaches to resolving the ongoing trade war with the U.S. Some argue for cutting a deal as quickly as possible to save China's economy; a vocal and growing group of hawks argues China should push back against the United States and avoid an agreement at all costs. As U.S. and Chinese negotiators head into their 13th round of...

One day later, China is still insisting no phone calls took place over the weekend that President Donald Trump claimed showed its willingness to talk again. “I have not heard of this situation regarding the two calls that the U.S. mentioned in the weekend,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at press conference on Tuesday. He had denied on Monday that the calls had taken place. “Regretfully, the U.S. has further increased the tax rate on China’s exports to the U.S. This extreme pressure is purely harmful to both sides and not constructive at all,” Geng said, according to...

“Order? Somebody should tell Chairman Trump this isn’t the People’s Republic of America,” thundered an editorial in the Wall Street Journal on August 23. What prompted this diatribe was President Donald Trump's tweet "Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.” The WSJ, however, raised more questions about its motives than about the President's sentiment. It is clear what the Chief Executive wants to see happen to strengthen the United States against the rising power of the Republic of...

The president is irked by the dollar’s persistent strength, but he shouldn’t blame China or the Fed. This month the Trump administration officially declared China a currency manipulator. This declaration, the latest salvo in the ongoing U.S.–China trade war, came after the Chinese government allowed its currency, the yuan, to fall to its lowest value in a decade. It is now trading at just over 7 yuan to a dollar. The currency-manipulation designation is one of the most unwarranted charges volleyed against China by the Trump administration. The depreciation of the yuan was largely caused by market forces and, by...

When President Trump issued a series of four tweets in response to China’s tariff threats Friday morning, Wall Street took a dive. A Matt Phillips of the New York Times wrote: Stocks fell sharply on Wall Street on Friday after President Trump responded to China’s threat of new tariffs on American imports with an angry volley of tweets, helping to push the market to its fourth-straight weekly loss. The S&P 500 dropped 2.6 percent, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq index fell 3 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average declined 2.4 percent. Investors were on edge before trading started after Beijing...

The popular narrative goes that because President Trump launched a trade war against China, China has retaliated by tariffing agriculture products from red states that voted for Trump. False. You’ve all seen the headlines: “China is hitting the U.S. where it hurts: Soybeans,” and “China takes aim at America’s soybean farmers,” and “Soybean farmers are still paying for Trump’s trade war” (all from CNN).The popular narrative goes that because President Trump launched a trade war against China, China has retaliated by tariffing America’s chief export to China—agricultural products—which happen to mostly come from red states that voted for Trump. China...

On Tuesday, the markets bid higher following a statement from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office that tariffs will commence on September 1st, but that some products will be delayed until December 15th. To wit: “…some tariffs will take effect on Sept. 1 as planned, ‘certain products are being removed from the tariff list based on health, safety, national security and other factors and will not face additional tariffs of 10 percent. Further, as part of USTR’s public comment and hearing process, it was determined that the tariff should be delayed to December 15 for certain articles.” The only part the...

Loosely defined, a macro tourist is somebody who knows little to nothing about the global economy, economic data, or the direction of that data. But they run from headline to headline to explain the latest development—kind of like a tourist to France who, seeing the Eifel Tower, thinks he has seen “France,” and knows everything there is to know about “France.”To say the macro tourists were out in full force on August 14 would be an understatement. For the first time since 2006-07, before the financial crisis, the yield (annual return) an investor gets for buying a 10-year Treasury was...

"Trump says he delayed tariffs because of concerns over Christmas shopping season" “We’re doing this for the Christmas season,” Trump told reporters on an airport tarmac around noon Tuesday. “Just in case some of the tariffs would have an impact on U.S. customers.” “So far they’ve had virtually none,” the president added. “But just in case they might have an impact on people, what we’ve done is we’ve delayed it, so that they won’t be relevant to the Christmas shopping season.”

President Trump’s delay on implementing announced tariff increases on Chinese goods that would be on many Christmas shopping lists sparked a stock market bump yesterday. But, while domestic considerations (i.e., his re-election) are important, the move must be seen in the broader context of a staredown with President Xi.  Even though China is a dictatorship, XI’s hold on his job is not something he can take for granted. Xi has grabbed power, purging some of his enemies and ending limits on his tenure, which makes him personally responsible for the serious ill-effects of his tariff war with Trump and...

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he is delaying some tariffs on Chinese imports ahead of the Christmas season to stem their potential impact on holiday shopping. The Trump administration announced hours earlier that it would delay until Dec. 15 some of the tariffs that were originally scheduled to come into effect Sept. 1. “We’re doing this for the Christmas season,” Trump told reporters on an airport tarmac around noon Tuesday. “Just in case some of the tariffs would have an impact on U.S. customers.” “But so far they’ve had virtually none,” the president added. “But just in case they...

A new Pew Research Center poll finds that 60% say they have an unfavorable view of China — up from 47% last year to the highest proportion since Pew started asking the question 14 years ago. The survey results being released Tuesday found that 24% of Americans regard China as America’s top threat for the future, the same percentage that said so of Russia. North Korea (12 was the only other country to draw double-digit concern. […] Still, the poll finds that only 41% of Americans believe that China’s growing economy is a bad thing for the United States, compared...

What China did this week is the strongest counteraction it has taken so far in its ongoing trade war. It might have achieved the desired effect of causing market panic, but it will end up hurting China the most. By Helen Raleigh President Donald Trump announced last week that the United States will impose 10 percent tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese imports beginning Sept. 1. At the beginning of this week, China retaliated by ordering state enterprises not to purchase U.S. agricultural goods and letting the Chinese yuan fall below the psychologically important rate of 7 yuan against $1.The...

President Trump’s strategic counter-tariffs on China have been deliberate, predictable and business-like – contrary to Beijing’s series of broken promises and the self-serving misinformation that China’s state-run media are peddling. The president recently announced that the U.S. will follow through to implement a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports Sept. 1. The10 percent tariff had been put on hold earlier this year after a personal meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Chinese government is now attempting to portray President Trump’s action as erratic and capricious, but nothing could be further from the truth....

Last week, President Trump threatened to place a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports on September 1 unless trade talks with China showed more sign of progress. Already, America has tariffed $250 billion of Chinese imports at 25 percent, and if tariffs are placed on the $300 billion basket of goods, this would increase tariffs on all Chinese imports to the United States.President Trump is unhappy that talks last week in Beijing between Chinese officials and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin broke down. He’s also unhappy that China hasn’t...

In the US-China trade war, it's been a week of rapid escalation. Beijing devalued the yuan after the Trump administration threatened to slap tariffs on just about every Chinese export. The United States then labeled China a "currency manipulator," deepening the rift. The exchanges have rocked global markets and threaten the global economy. What happens next is anyone's guess. China has said it is prepared to fight, if necessary. And it has one hugely powerful weapon up its sleeve: it's the American government's biggest creditor. In theory, Beijing could trigger a panic in bond markets by dumping some of the...

President Trump says he will impose a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports beginning September 1. The tariff would affect consumer goods primarily, according to an analysis by Goldman Sachs. Cue the histrionics. The Washington Post laments that these tariffs will ruin America’s “holiday” shopping season. The Post cites a study claiming that the price of toys will rise by 17 percent, while the cost of laptops and tablets could increase by $120. Basically, President Trump is the Grinch who will steal Christmas by making toys too expensive. How could he do this to poor little...

China has been engaged in a trade war against us for 40 years... and they've been winning because we never fought back. Until now.

The decline of China’s yuan on Monday to its lowest level in 11 years against the US dollar could continue into 2020 amid the apparent shift in its policy stance by the Chinese authorities, who are showing increasing reluctance to provide concessions to resolve its trade war with the United States. The Chinese currency’s drop has also rattled the currency market, sending 11 regional currencies lower. The yuan slid 1.3 per cent to 7.0298 against the dollar on Monday in response to President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a new 10 per cent tariff on the US$300 billion of Chinese...