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China held back from immediate retaliation for higher U.S. tariffs, unlike in past rounds, taking time to weigh its options amid uncertainty over how the Chinese economy would weather a full-bore trade conflict. A failure to break an impasse in talks in Washington on Friday opened a new phase in the trade fight after more than five months of back-and-forth negotiations. This time, some economists and analysts said, Beijing is taking stock of potential economic damage from higher tariffs.

The federal government recorded a $160.3 billion surplus in April as revenues for the month jumped to an all-time high. But even with a flood of tax receipts, the deficit so far this year is running 37.7% higher than a year ago. The Treasury Department reported Friday that the deficit for the first seven months of the budget year that began Oct. 1 totals $530.9 billion, compared to a deficit of $385.5 billion for the same period a year ago. The Trump administration projected in March that this year’s deficit will hit $1.1 trillion, up from last year’s deficit of...

As promised, goods from China will cost Americans a lot more money starting today — and selling goods in China even tougher. A last-ditch effort to avoid the imposition of tariffs failed late yesterday, resulting in a broadened trade war between two of the top global economies. At least at the moment, there don’t seem to be too many off-ramps from this conflict: The United States and China hurtled toward a defining moment in their four-decade-old relationship, with financial markets bracing for the outcome of unusually dramatic trade talks in Washington.Negotiators met into the evening on Thursday but failed...

China appealed to the United States to meet it halfway to salvage a deal that could end their trade war, with its chief negotiator in Washington for two days of talks hoping to stave off U.S. tariff hikes set to be triggered on Friday. The two sides had appeared to be converging on a deal until last weekend, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intention to raise tariffs with his negotiators saying that China was backtracking on earlier commitments. “The U.S. side has given many labels recently, ‘backtracking’, ‘betraying’ etc...China sets great store on trustworthiness and keeps its promises,...

After the Trump administration rattled its trade-war sabers, China has responded by proceeding with its planned visit to the US. Over the weekend, the White House threatened to impose the rest of the proposed tariffs in Chinese goods totaling $200 billion when talks on a trade deal appeared to stall. Trump advisers accused China of reneging on previously agreed positions, prompting the threats to escalate the trade war: President TrumpÂ’s top economic advisers on Monday accused China of reneging on previous commitments to resolve a monthslong trade war and said Mr. Trump was prepared to prolong the standoff to...

The diplomatic cable from Beijing arrived in Washington late on Friday night, with systematic edits to a nearly 150-page draft trade agreement that would blow up months of negotiations between the world’s two largest economies, according to three U.S. government sources and three private sector sources briefed on the talks. The document was riddled with reversals by China that undermined core U.S. demands, the sources told Reuters. In each of the seven chapters of the draft trade deal, China had deleted its commitments to change laws to resolve core complaints that caused the United States to launch a trade war:...

This is nearly 15 mins. Explaining how the Friday Trump tariffs will work. It is well worth your time.

The diplomatic cable from Beijing arrived in Washington late on Friday night, with systematic edits to a nearly 150-page draft trade agreement that would blow up months of negotiations between the world’s two largest economies, according to three U.S. government sources and three private sector sources briefed on the talks.

President Donald Trump’s former chief political strategist, Steve Bannon, told Fox Business on Monday that it was the “most important” day of his presidency because he told China he would not re-negotiate trade agreements that Beijing had already signed off on but which the Communist leadership is now reneging. Instead, Bannon noted, POTUS is set to impose an additional heavy round of tariffs on Chinese imports by Friday — as we reported today — if no trade deal can be reached.

The endgame in the trade war between China and the United States seems near. President Trump, betting with real currency — American strength — apparently has the upper hand, and the concessions President Xi Jinping is likely to make won’t be mere tokens. When — if? — an agreement is finally announced, Mr. Trump will surely fire off bragging tweets, partly to shore up his credentials for a second term, amid personal and policy troubles. For Mr. Xi, almost any deal could mean a very serious loss of face. Mr. Xi assumed power when China was still riding high on...

A Chinese delegation will travel to the United States for trade talks this week after President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat, according to sources familiar with the matter. Trump reignites the trade war with Beijing on Sunday, raising doubts about whether the Chinese team will come to Washington to try to strike a trade deal as planned. Stock markets initially plunge following Trump’s tariff threat but recover throughout Monday.

Senate Republicans feel that President Trump has once again pulled the rug out from under them on trade, leaving GOP lawmakers frustrated over their inability to influence the White House’s policy on an issue that could have major economic and electoral ramifications. Days after a group of Republican senators relayed to Trump at a White House meeting their concerns about trade tensions with Canada, Mexico, Europe and China, Trump over the weekend threatened new tariffs on China, escalating a fight with Beijing and rattling markets. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said after the stock markets closed Monday that higher tariffs...

I assume that Trump has examined both the political and economic implications of increasing tariffs on Chinese goods. However, the Times presents no reason to believe that, at root, Trump’s decision is other than what his advisers say it is — a response to bad faith negotiating by China. China is notorious for its bad faith in international relations, so we shouldn’t be surprised that it apparently has reneged on commitments made during negotiations. The proper response is to do exactly what Trump plans to do — inflict more pain on China. But Trump is leaving the door open for...

The Chinese strategy, one expert said, is basically to let Trump bluster and then resume talking with more serious administration officials. NEW YORK - The Chinese were not surprised by President Donald Trump's threats to impose more tariffs on their goods, several experts said Monday - they just assumed it was Trump being Trump. “I am not sure how literally Trump’s threat is being taken in Beijing, but he has articulated essentially the same threat before,” William Hurst, a Northwestern University political science professor and an expert on Chinese politics and legal institutions, wrote in an email to NBC News....

U.S. Trade Rep. Lighthizer: China ‘Reneging’ on Previous Commitments in Talks *Lighthizer Says U.S. on Friday to Raise Tariffs to 25% From 10% on $200 Billion in Chinese Goods *Lighthizer: ‘We’re Raising the Tariffs’ Effective Friday Morning *Lighthizer: Has Seen ‘Erosion in Commitments by China’ in Last Week *Lighthizer: Talks Will Continue With China Officials Thursday, Friday *Lighthizer Says Doesn’t Know Why China Position Shifted *Treasury Sec. Mnuchin: Over the Weekend New Information Showed Issues With China *Mnuchin: China ‘Trying to Go Back With Language That Had Been Clearly Negotiated’ *Lighthizer, Mnuchin Spoke to Reporters in Washington Briefing Monday Afternoon...

Two Stories that I will post links to given the amount of Websites that have Shunned FR. Futher comments in the Body section, here are the links:https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/02/us-legislation-aims-to-thwart-chinas-electric-vehicle-dominance.htmlhttps://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-lithium-electric-exclusive/exclusive-us-seeks-to-challenge-chinas-electric-vehicle-supply-chain-dominance-idUSKCN1S81EO

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow denounced Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Sunday after the 2020 White House candidate said President Trump was "taking credit for a recovery that started under [former President Barack] Obama." "What Mr. Booker and some others are saying is simply not true factually," Kudlow told Fox News' "America's News HQ". Kudlow spoke two days after the publication of the April jobs report, which showed that the American economy added 263,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate fell to 3.6 percent, the lowest since 1969. Despite the rosy numbers, Booker insisted that the boom's effects were...

A sharp sell-off will start the week on Wall Street after President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the U.S. will hike tariffs on goods imported from China, casting doubt on recent optimism that the world’s two largest economies were close to a resolution to their trade battle. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 400 points after falling as much as 479 points earlier Sunday evening. S&P 500 futures dropped 1.3% shortly after their open Sunday evening, while Nasdaq-100 Index futures dropped 1.5%. Trump said in a tweet Sunday afternoon that the current 10% levies on $200 billion worth of...

President Donald Trump said Sunday that tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods will increase to 25% on Friday, despite repeated claims by the administration in recent weeks that trade talks with Beijing were going well. The tariff rate on those goods was originally set at 10%. Trump had originally threatened to increase the tariffs at the start of the year, but postponed that decision after China and the US agreed to sit down for trade talks. In addition, Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on an additional $325 billion of Chinese goods “shortly.”

The Nasdaq on Friday closed at a record, and the S&P 500 narrowly missed its own, as investors bought stocks following an April employment report that came in hotter than expected, underscoring consistent labor-market strength. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP advanced 127.22 points, or 1.6%, at 8,164, buoyed by gains in e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc., which helped the technology-laden index to carve out a fresh all-time high and recover from a three-session stumble. The S&P 500 index climbed 28.12 points, or 1%, at 2,945.64, barely missing its own closing record at 2,845.83. All 11 S&P 500 sectors finished in positive...