Steel to soybeans: A timeline of the US-China trade war

Yolanda Murray
00:34, Apr 7, 2018
Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. This material can't be published, transferred, copied or redistributed.
Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. This material can't be published, transferred, copied or redistributed.

Information for this article was contributed by Randall Woods, Kevin Cirilli, Andrew Mayeda, Saleha Mohsin, Hugh Son, Toluse Olorunnipa, Andrew Mayeda, Alan Bjerga and Adam Haigh of Bloomberg News and by Joe McDonald, Sam McNeil and Yu Bing of The Associated Press.

China's tariffs in one corner of the energy market signal US shale fields may follow the nation's farms as a target if a trade war escalates.

The White House announced after the markets closed Thursday that Trump had instructed the Office of the United States Trade Representative to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate and, if so, to identify which products they should apply to.

Already unsteady after the exchange of trade salvos earlier in the week, markets slid Friday. Technology companies, banks, industrial and health care stocks are sinking. The S&P 500 lost 26.48 points, or 0.99 percent, to 2,636.36 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 60.21 points, or 0.85 percent, to 7,016.34.

President Donald Trump may be looking for ways to ratchet up a pending trade war with China.

The further tariffs were being considered "in light of China's unfair retaliation" against earlier United States trade actions, which included a proposed $50 billion of tariffs on Chinese goods, Trump said in a White House statement.

The ministry also vowed to take "comprehensive countermeasures", according to Xinhua, although it did not add further details.

Many U.S. industry groups and even Republican lawmakers have called for the president to take a more cautious approach, warning that a full-on trade war could devastate agriculture and industry. It's down 1.3 percent for the week.

China's government says it will "counterattack with great strength" if President Donald Trump goes ahead with plans to raise US tariffs on an additional $100 billion worth of Chinese goods.

Crude oil prices fell after Trump's latest tariff proposal.

Among the low points: The US national security strategy in December naming China, along with Russian Federation, as threatening American interests; the US increasing naval operations in the South China Sea; and legislation signed by Mr Trump last month calling for Cabinet-level official visits to Taiwan, which is regarded by Beijing as part of China.

"The process itself seems to be quite chaotic", she said. "We're going to have a fantastic relationship long term with China but we have to get this straightened out, we have to have some balance".

By provoking a trade conflict with China, the USA side, in fact, mounted a challenge to the world multilateralism and free trade regime with its unilateralism and protectionism, Lu said.

Peter Navarro, White House trade adviser, said "talk hasn't been cheap with China", during a Fox News appearance today. Optimism about the world economy has helped many tech companies make huge gains in the a year ago.

China's threat to raise tariffs on USA exports could be a disaster for American soybean farmers but a boon to their Brazilian and Argentine competitors, European aerospace companies and Japanese whiskey distillers.

Average hourly earnings are expected to have risen 0.2 per cent last month after edging up 0.1 per cent in February. The Labor Department also said fewer jobs were added in January and February that it initially estimated.

An additional agricultural subsidy from the U.S.

But trade tensions with China show no sign of letting up.

Treasury debt prices gained and yields declined as investors sought the safety of government bonds. The lower yields mean banks can't make as much money from lending, and that send bank stocks lower.

The 10-year Treasury note yield fell marginally to 2.8229 percent, pulling back from Thursday's nine-day high of 2.838 percent.

CURRENCIES: The dollar slipped to 107.34 yen from 107.40 yen The euro rose to $1.2232 from $1.2241.

Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. This material can't be published, transferred, copied or redistributed.


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