Posted on 05/10/2019 8:14:57 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Trump administration is hiking duties on $200 billion worth of Chinese products from 10% to 25%.
It had been hoped that a resolution could be reached by the two sides prior to a midnight deadline for the tariff hike, but no deal materialized.
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President Donald Trump raised the stakes in his trade conflict with China as the U.S. increased tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods on Friday.
Despite the escalation in the trade war, the Shanghai Composite rose 3% and the Shenzhen soared 4%. U.S. stock futures were down only slightly Friday after a volatile week stemming from uncertainty in the negotiations.
China's Commerce Ministry said immediately after the midnight ET deadline for the tariff hike that it would take countermeasures against the American move. It did not announce what its response would entail but said it "deeply regrets" the turn of events.
It had been hoped that a resolution could be reached by the two sides prior to the deadline for the tariff hike, but no deal materialized. Trade talks between the world's two largest economies are set to continue on Friday.
"This evening, (United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer) and (Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin) met with President Trump to discuss the ongoing trade negotiations with China. The Ambassador and Secretary then had a working dinner with Vice Premier Liu He, and agreed to continue discussions tomorrow morning at USTR," White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement Thursday evening.
Despite the ongoing talks about a trade agreement, the Trump administration is hiking duties on the products from 10% to 25%.
The move risks widening a trade war that has spooked investors and raised fears about global economic damage. Only a week ago, the White House was boosting hopes that the U.S. and China would resolve their trade dispute this week and potentially have a deal to announce.
Beijing promised "necessary countermeasures" this week if the U.S. raised tariffs but did not specify the actions it would take to retaliate.
Trump first announced the tariff increase Sunday as the White House accused China of reneging on key parts of a developing agreement. On Wednesday night, he claimed Beijing "broke the deal" — a remark that sent Asian and U.S. stocks tumbling Thursday. U.S. equity markets recovered later in the day after Trump said a deal was still possible this week. He added that he received a letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping and could speak to his counterpart on the phone.
Still, the engagement between Washington and Beijing this week did not prevent Trump from following through on his threat. Ahead of the tariff increase, the president called duties an "excellent" alternative to a trade deal, saying they brought in "billions" for the U.S. government. U.S. consumers bear the brunt of the tariff costs, not China, as Trump has argued.
Industries and businesses affected by the tariff hike will not feel the effect right away: It will apply to goods exported after May 10, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. It will not affect products already in transit to the United States.
Trump has prepared to put even more pressure on China as he pushes for an agreement. The president has threatened to slap 25% tariffs on $325 billion in Chinese goods that remain untaxed.
The president entered the White House promising to crack down on what he calls Chinese trade abuses and has made a deal a priority ahead of his November 2020 bid for reelection. The White House aims to resolve grievances such as intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers and trade deficits.
Patience has grown thin in parts of the U.S.: Farmers in key electoral states want Trump to sign a deal.
So far, the U.S. has slapped tariffs on $250 billion total in Chinese products. Beijing has put duties on $110 billion in U.S. goods.
China took a tougher stance in negotiations after getting a sense the U.S. may be willing to compromise, according to The Wall Street Journal. The view came in part from the fact that Trump called for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, which could have signaled that the president thought the economy was in worse shape than he publicly said.
China, you’ve been playing with pricing on our stuff for decades.
Turn about is fair play kiddies...
And stealing our Intellectual Property.
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What the article fails to tell you is that those same two Chinese exchanges had already dropped 14-19% just a few days prior when the tariff increases were announced by the President. Some amount of rebound is not unexpected.
We have the leverage. Our imports from China far exceed our exports to them. Soybeans will be the commodity the Chinese will target. Trump indicated that the USG will buy the soybeans and distribute them as part of our foreign aid to poor countries.
“Soybeans will be the commodity the Chinese will target.”
China is home to 57% of the world’s hogs. They have to be fed, and China has to buy our soybeans, otherwise, it will it the Chinese consumer. Brazil doesn’t produce enough to supply the world.
Forcing China into fair trade is like forcing a heroin addict off his dope cold turkey.
Considering that China doesn’t import nearly as much from us as we do from them, this is decidedly underwhelming retaliation.
Which is good for all involved.....................eventually............
Chinese trade delegation just walked out of D.C. negotiations.
Don't let the door hit you in the ass!
The TRADE WAR with CHINA is one of Trump's BIGGEST and MOST IMPORTANT CHALLENGES for SAVING the USA!
That means I consider it on par with these OTHER BIGGIES:
1) Border
2) Economy (taxes, regulations)
3) Military
4) Cultural Marxism (PC, media, Christian values etc.)
Of course WALL STREET is WHINING about China.
Ultimately the FREE MARKET will rule in Wall Street, unless the globalist FED joins forces with globalist influences on Wall Street (financial markets) to tank the stock market and the economy.
ATTENTION AMERICANS:
China is a Communist country.
They DO NOT believe in private property.
They believe that the money in your pocket belongs to them.
They will NEVER STOP STEALING our companies, our Intellectual Property and, eventually, our freedom.
The China Trade War is MUST WIN.
DO NOT LET THE FAKE NEWS DISSUADE ANYONE FROM SUPPORTING POTUS 100% on this!
Wow!!
Have I got a GREAT IDEA!!!
Let’s get into a game of “chicken” with good ‘ol softie, patsy Donald J. Trump!!
What fun!
What could possibly go wrong?
Wow!!
Have I got a GREAT IDEA!!!
Let’s get into a game of “chicken” with good ‘ol softie, patsy Donald J. Trump!!
What fun!
What could possibly go wrong?
“Considering that China doesn’t import nearly as much from us as we do from them, this is decidedly underwhelming retaliation.”
Considering how China treated us under the Bush, Clinton and Obama administrations this is a 2×4 to the face.
The sheltered apparatchiks in Beijing are now playing “Lets Make A Deal” with the guy who, quite literally, wrote the book on the Art Of The Deal and The Art Of The Comeback.
Stay tuned sports fans, this may be a barn burner!
I’d like to charge them with that, but the fact is our businesses have been willing to hand over all patents, plans, and logistical information to the Chinese government for the right of manufacturing there.
Yes, China goes beyond that, but it is shocking to me what our idiots have signed on too, as well.
We should have played hard ball with China since the early 1990s.
Certainly when Bush came to office, he should have taken a stand.
Here we are two and a half decades later, finally taking a stand.
Meanwhile China has been gifted with or stolen fifty years of tech.
China has had the fastest computer in the world for two or three years now.
What has taken place has been a strategic nightmare.
I agree with your take on it.
Foke China
You’re right. The problem with our idiots is that they have no loyalty to the United States. Money is their god.
In Revelation somewhere it states that at some point God withdraws his presence from the Earth, and evil runs rampant.
You can’t help but read something like that and think of the times in which we live.
People are just unhinged. It’s like the Holy Spirit has given up on them and doesn’t even work to get them to critically asses themselves any longer.
Not trying to be preachy here, but it really is stark how well this explains where we are today.
“China is home to 57% of the world’s hogs.”
Aside from the trade war, China has had a huge die off of its hogs from an epidemic disease (not a threat to humans).
From the WaPo (https://beta.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/05/09/african-swine-fever-has-crept-china-europe-will-it-hit-us/?outputType=amp)
“African swine fever was first identified in August, reducing the country’s hog population by 40 million and leading to the extermination of an estimated 1 million hogs, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics.
Experts believe infection numbers and the number of culled pigs have been immensely underreported.”
“The financial services firm Rabobank has projected a 30 percent decline in Chinese pork production for 2019.”
China has no cards to play.
Frankly, I am surprised we are “negotiating with them at all.
We should be handing down unilateral terms of compliance. Nothing more.
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