...to go back in the water, another shark appears. "China plans to levy retaliatory tariffs on another $75 billion of U.S. goods, and resume 25% tariffs on U.S. autos from Dec. 15, Bloomberg News reports..." Note the date. Talk about tit-for-tat. Geez.
The timing of the announcement (2 hours before Powell takes the mic) is interesting too....getting long US equities ahead of Jackson Hole has been free money for the last 5 years. China maybe says no tickey no laundry, this time.
I wonder just how much damage that will do. It sounded like 10% tariffs on 75b in goods, which is really not that much in the grand scheme. Also, China's imports of US auto's had dropped significantly in 2018. So I would think most of the auto damage has already occurred.
I think it is more symbolic than anything.....the two sides are not close to a trade deal by any means, and things will only escalate further as time goes on.
Christmasssy date ...just in time for our holiday get togethers... Under pressure from retailers to prevent a move that would likely have caused prices of popular consumer goods to spike, the President's team came to him during a meeting last week with a warning. Applying new tariffs on all Chinese imports, they cautioned, could effectively "ruin Christmas," according to people familiar with the matter. It was a tactic that worked: Trump announced the tariffs would be delayed until December 15.
we've known this about tariffs for years. Of course they are even worse when dreamed up by the seat of Trump's pajamas and announced via tweet. Sad to say, the U.S. no longer has an intact State Department. Trump's bullshit is creating chaos and lose-lose situations. And now the U.S. risks permanent loss of soybean markets. In the prophetic words of Michael Bloomberg, "God help us!"