China announced on Friday a new round of retaliatory tariffs on about $75 billion worth of U.S. goods and said it will resume taxes on U.S. imports of cars and auto parts.
President Donald Trump responded by escalating the war on world trade and the domestic war on us, issuing a Twitter proclamation for U.S. companies manufacturing in China to come home.
Last week, China promised to retaliate after the U.S. announced it would impose 10-percent tariffs on Chinese imports worth $300 billion, CNN reported.
These are the Trump tweets that rattled U.S. markets today:
“Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual Property at a rate of Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year, & they want to continue. I won’t let that happen! We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them.”
“The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP.”
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 60: Jamarlin Martin
Jamarlin goes solo and talks about Facebook’s ban on Minister Louis Farrakhan and whether or not Barack Obama’s pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was always right.
“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.”
“I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon. This is a GREAT opportunity for the United States.”
“Also, I am ordering all carriers, including Fed Ex, Amazon, UPS and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR & REFUSE, all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!). Fentanyl kills 100,000 Americans a year. President Xi said this would stop – it didn’t.”
“Our Economy, because of our gains in the last 2 1/2 years, is MUCH larger than that of China. We will keep it that way!”
Trump couldn’t resist the opportunity to blame someone else for the U.S. opioid crisis, deflecting and distracting on what will surely be an issue when he runs for reelection in 2020.
U.S markets fell on the comments — but not gold. Yields, stocks and the dollar plunged. Gold rose.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about 2 percent in afternoon trading, while the S&P 500 dropped 2 percent and the Nasdaq Composite was down 2.3 percent, Barrons reported.
Trump spooked the market just moments after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell soothed investors’ nerves and helped stocks recover from early declines.
Speaking Friday in Jackson, Wyo., at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual symposium, Powell kept future interest rate cuts on the table. However, he suggested that the central bank has limits in its ability to counteract Trump’s trade policies, which are creating uncertainty and risk for the economic outlook.
Trump lashed out at Powell in a separate stream of tweets, hinting that a new economic policy would “be announced shortly.” Trump has blamed the Fed for imperiling the economy ahead of his reelection campaign, according to Barrons. He compared Powell to Chinese President Xi Jinping: “Who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?”
Referring to Xi as an enemy is a bad sign for trade talks, MSNBC reported. As recently as this month, Trump referred to Xi as a friend. Last month at a White House event, Trump backpedaled on that.
“We’re probably not quite as close now,” Trump said, according to Politico. “But I have to be for our country. He’s for China and I’m for USA, and that’s the way it’s got to be.”
