Trump raises tariffs on Chinese goods as trade war escalates
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump angrily escalated his trade fight with China on Friday, raising retaliatory tariffs and ordering American companies to consider alternatives to doing business there.
He also blamed Jerome Powell, the man he appointed as chairman of the Federal Reserve, for the state of the domestic economy, wondering who was a “bigger enemy” of the U.S. — Powell or Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“As usual, the Fed did NOTHING!” Trump tweeted, adding, “We have a very strong dollar and a very weak Fed.” He went further by saying: “My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?” — a reference to China’s President Xi Jinping.
Asked by reporters late Friday if he wanted Powell to resign, Trump responded, “Let me put it this way: If he did I wouldn’t stop him.”
Even by the turbulent standards of the Trump presidency, his actions, all done via Twitter, were notable, sending markets sharply lower and adding to a sense of uncertainty on the eve of his trip to France for a meeting of global economic powers.
Trump’s move came after Beijing announced Friday morning that it had raised taxes on U.S. products. He huddled with advisers, firing off tweets that attacked China and the Fed. And he mockingly attributed a Wall Street drop of 573 points to the withdrawal of a marginal candidate from the Democratic presidential race. The Dow Jones average eventually closed down 623 points.
US stocks tumble as US-China trade war rattles investors
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 600 points Friday after the latest escalation in the trade war between the U.S. and China rattled investors. The broad sell-off sent the S&P 500 to its fourth straight weekly loss.
Stocks tumbled after President Donald Trump responded angrily on Twitter following China’s announcement of new tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. goods. In one of his tweets he “hereby ordered” U.S. companies with operations in China to consider moving them to other countries — including the U.S.
Trump also said he’d respond directly to the tariffs — and after the market closed he delivered, announcing that the U.S. would increase existing tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods to 30% from 25%, and that new tariffs on another $300 billion of imports would be 15% instead of 10%. Those announcements are likely to influence stock markets in Asia when trading opens there Monday.
Friday’s developments mark the latest escalation of an ongoing trade dispute between Washington and Beijing that has given investors whiplash as they try to assess its potential impact on the global economy. The tweets from Trump around 11 a.m. ignited a wave of selling as investors fled stocks in favor of U.S. government bonds, pushing yields higher. The price of gold also rose.
“The market is spooked by the escalation in the trade war,” said Janet Johnston, portfolio manager at TrimTabs Asset Management. “Investors are looking for an endgame and we haven’t seen it yet.”
N. Korea test-fires missiles again after joint drills end
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired two suspected short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Saturday in the seventh weapons launch in a month, South Korea’s military said, a day after it threatened to remain America’s biggest threat in protest of U.S.-led sanctions on the country.
The North had been expected to halt weapons tests because the 10-day U.S.-South Korean drills, which it views as an invasion rehearsal, ended earlier this week.
President Donald Trump downplayed the latest launch.
“Kim Jong Un has been, you know, pretty straight with me. … He likes testing missiles but we never restricted short-range missiles. We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters outside the White House late Friday night.
Saturday’s launches were made from northeastern South Hamgyong province, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. They flew about 380 kilometers (236 miles) at the maximum altitude of 97 kilometers (60 miles), the military said.
Bolsonaro to send army to fight huge fires in the Amazon
PORT VELHO, Brazil — Under international pressure to contain fires sweeping parts of Brazil’s Amazon, President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday authorized use of the military to battle the huge blazes while thousands took to the streets to protest his environmental policies.
Brazilian forces will deploy starting Saturday to border areas, indigenous territories and other affected regions in the Amazon to assist in putting out fires for a month, according to a presidential decree authorizing use of the army.
The military will “act strongly” to control the wildfires, Bolsonaro promised as he signed the decree.
The armed forces will collaborate with public security and environmental protection agencies, the decree says.
From wire sources
“The protection of the forest is our duty,” the president said. “We are aware of that and will act to combat deforestation and criminal activities that put people at risk in the Amazon. We are a government of zero tolerance for crime, and in the environmental field it will not be different.”
Billionaire conservative donor David Koch dies at 79
NEW YORK — Billionaire industrialist David H. Koch, who with his older brother Charles poured a fortune into right-wing causes, transforming the American political landscape and shaping U.S. policies on such issues as climate change and government regulation, died Friday at 79.
The cause of death was not disclosed, but Koch Industries said Koch, who lived in New York City, had contended for years with various illnesses, including prostate cancer.
A chemical engineer by training, Koch was an executive in the family-run conglomerate, the Libertarian Party’s vice-presidential candidate in 1980 and a major benefactor of educational, medical and cultural organizations.
But he and his brother became best known for building a political network dubbed the “Kochtopus” for its many-tentacled support of conservative and libertarian causes, candidates and think tanks, including the Cato Institute.
The brothers in 2004 founded the anti-tax, small-government group Americans for Prosperity, which remains one of the most powerful conservative organizations in U.S. politics, and they were an important influence on the tea party movement.
