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Call it at least a half-blink. After a war of words between the US and China spooked investors around the world, Xi Jinping indirectly offered two concessions to US trade concerns while speaking at a business conference. Xi offered to open up the auto market and increase flexibility on banking, but left out a couple of other key issues for Donald Trump: China’s President Xi Jinping may be starting to pull back from a trade confrontation with President Trump, promising to reduce Chinese tariffs on imported cars https://t.co/8sVBCFJDZ5 pic.twitter.com/53YqJpEbG2— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 10, 2018 President Xi Jinping promised...

Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed plans to further open up the Chinese economy during a Tuesday address.

Every once in a while, Wall Street has a fit. Sometimes it is warranted, many times it is not. The tariff tantrum falls under into the latter category. Late Thursday night, President Trump upped the ante in the tariff game, proposing a review of an additional $100 billion of potential tariffs. So the US and China, the two largest economies, jostle over a tiny percentage of their multitrillion-dollar GDPs to make a point — and to score points. But Wall Street uses its finest calculus, egged on by Trump-bashing media personalities dressed up as “journalists,” to extrapolate that we are...

If the world’s two largest economies are heading toward a trade war, time is on China’s side. “Don’t forget: The Chinese have a very long-term view,” Bloomberg News Chief Content Officer Marty Schenker argued on Wednesday, while noting that Chinese President Xi Jinping no longer has term limits. “He’s going to be there long after Donald Trump is gone. So they’re in this for the long haul, and they’re playing hardball.” On Tuesday evening, the Trump administration announced 25% tariffs on more than 1,000 industrial technology, transport, and medical products amounting to about $50 billion in 2018 imports. China swiftly...

The Trump administration is pursuing ways to protect domestic vehicle manufacturing by forcing imported cars to meet stricter environmental rules when entering the country, according to senior administration and industry officials, a move that would make imports more expensive. The cost of meeting the stiffer import standards would, at least in part, be passed along to U.S. consumers. This style of “nontariff barrier”—a protectionist stratagem the U.S. has long condemned in other countries—is designed to reduce the relative cost of cars manufactured in the U.S., by American workers, the officials said. Mr. Trump has asked the Environmental Protection Agency and...

The headlines on most financial publications claim the United States and our current administration is lighting the fuse to a trade war. The first shot across the bow came many years ago when China joined the World Trade Organization and its central and provincial governments began subsidizing manufacturing and production of goods in high volumes thus leaving manufacturing sectors in the west at a disadvantage. President Donald Trump vowed to remember those who were forgotten in the last 10 years and to make changes in policy. (please see link, for full article)

Lawmakers and bureaucrats in official Washington often act as if their decisions lead the nation forward. News from Iowa this week, however, shows once again that the culture leads and politicians lag behind. Kim Reynolds became Iowa's Governor last May when her predecessor (Terry Branstad) resigned to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to China. Reynolds is now running for her own full term in a state where the average Obamacare premiums jumped 57 percent. "Many Iowans faced a choice of going broke or going without insurance," according to Reynolds. "And that's really not a real choice." Seizing the opportunity...

In a recent piece for the Washington Post, former CNN correspondent Heather Long and her colleague Andrew Van Dam contend that President Trump’s tariffs will hurt Trump voters the most. Their conclusion is unsurprising, as the mainstream media’s raison d’être is to rebuke the president and gaslight his supporters into thinking they have cause to abandon him. Don’t let them fool you. Tariffs are in America’s best interest, and they will help precisely the people Trump says they will: the working class. Long and Van Dam argue that tariffs are bad because they increase prices and could cause a trade...

Stocks in the U.S. are rising Thursday and major indexes in Europe are surging as global markets continue a rally that began late the previous day. Wall Street is getting more optimistic that a trade dispute between the U.S. and China, the two largest economies in the world, will be resolved without too much pain. Some of the biggest gains are going to technology companies, retailers and banks. The S&P 500 index climbed 18 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,662 as of 12:45 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 237 points, or 1 percent, to 24,501. It...

The U.S. and China indicated they’re willing to negotiate on escalating frictions, helping to ease fears among investors that a tit-for-tat trade dispute could derail the strongest global expansion in years. The White House’s National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow spent much of the day Wednesday trying to calm markets after the two countries announced tariffs, and said they still have time work out their differences. “Remember, none of the tariffs have been put in place yet. These are all proposals,” he said in a brief interview, without specifying if talks are planned or how they’d take place. “We’re putting...

In the escalating economic showdown between the United States and China, President Trump is trying to put American shoppers first. The administration did not place tariffs on necessities like shoes and clothes, and mostly spared smartphones from the 25 percent levy on Chinese goods announced this week. But by shielding consumers, Mr. Trump has put American manufacturers — a group he has championed — in the cross hairs of a potential global trade war. If the measures stand, along with China’s retaliatory tariffs, they could snuff out a manufacturing recovery just beginning to gain steam. “If you want to spare...

U.S. stocks were higher in afternoon trading on Wednesday, with the major indexes recovering from earlier losses as investors’ fears eased over a trade conflict between the United States and China. Beijing hit back against U.S. plans to impose tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods, with proposals for a list of similar duties on key American imports including soybeans, planes, cars, beef and chemicals. However, investor concerns appeared to ease after Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the administration was involved in a “negotiation” with China rather than a trade war. The market also seemed to take comfort...

Is President Trump winning on trade?Two underappreciated trade wins last week suggest the answer is: Yes.First, South Korea agreed to reduce longstanding nontariff trade barriers ‎that have reduced US exports there. Though the details are still sketchy, it appears that the Koreans will buy more Ford and GM cars and trucks and other US-made products. ‎This can only be good news for American workers. Seoul has also agreed to increase reimbursement rates to American drug and vaccine producers.On the negative side, the administration extended tariffs on Korean trucks and imposed a quota on steel imports from Korea. These will raise...

Is it possible that Donald Trump is winning on trade? Last week, Trump apparently delivered two underappreciated victories as a result of his threat of stiff tariffs and renegotiated trade deals. First, Seoul has agreed to reduce long-standing non-tariff trade barriers that have reduced American exports to Korea. Though the details are still sketchy, the Koreans have agreed to buy more Ford and General Motors Co. cars and trucks and other U.S.-made products. This can only be good news for American workers. The Koreans have also agreed to increase reimbursement rates to American drug and vaccine producers. Even The...

US policy towards China has been misdirected for decades and policymakers are now recalibrating ties, Senator Elizabeth Warren told reporters during a visit to Beijing amid heightened trade tensions between the world's two largest economies. The Massachusetts Democrat and Trump foe, who has been touted as a potential 2020 presidential candidate despite rejecting such speculation, has said US trade policy needs a rethink and that she is not afraid of tariffs. Misdirected policy After years of mistakenly assuming economic engagement would lead to a more open China, the US government was waking up to Chinese demands for US companies to...

Beijing is still talking about a trade war with the U.S., warning that President Donald Trump’s proposed trade penalties could lead to conflict. "We hope the United States can rein in its horse before the edge of the cliff, or else we will fight to the end," Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said Thursday, reiterating a point recently made by the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. (please see the full article, at the link)

Beijing: China on Monday imposed new tariffs on 128 US imports worth $3 billion, including fruits and pork, in retaliation to US duties on steel and aluminium, fuelling fears of a trade war. Beijing's move, which the Xinhua news agency said was decided by the custom tariffs commission of the State Council, follows weeks of heated rhetoric and threats between the world's two biggest economies. (please see full article at the link)

The Chinese government plans to immediately impose tariffs on 128 U.S. products, including pork and certain fruits, a direct response to President Trump’s recent moves to pursue numerous trade restrictions against Beijing. If U.S. goods become more expensive in China, Chinese buyers could opt to purchase products from Europe, South America or elsewhere, though White House officials have routinely discounted the likelihood of this. Beijing’s move could force Trump to decide whether to follow through on expansive trade restrictions he had hoped would crack down on China even if Beijing is now threatening to harm U.S. companies that rely on...

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has agreed to further open its auto market to the United States as the two countries prepare to amend their 6-year-old trade agreement following complaints by President Donald Trump. ...It marks the first successful renegotiation of a trade deal for the Trump administration — which used the threat of 25 percent steel tariffs at the bargaining table — and comes as the allies sought to resolve disputes before planned meetings with Kim Jong Un.

Last week, China threatened a massive trade war after Donald Trump imposed $50 billion in tariffs on their exports. This week, Beijing’s top economic official has begun to do his best Monty Hall impersonation, according to the Wall Street Journal. After a notably mild first response, China has quietly begun to offer better access to its markets to the US: China and the U.S. have quietly started negotiating to improve U.S. access to Chinese markets, after a week filled with harsh words from both sides over Washington’s threat to use tariffs to address trade imbalances, people with knowledge of the...