Tag: Trump trade war

From Lincoln Logs to luggage, U.S.-China trade deal still leaves huge cloud over American business

Washington Post logoClassic toys such as Lincoln Logs and My Little Pony bring children smiles every holiday season. But for the company that makes them, Florida-based Basic Fun! Toys, President Trump’s trade war with China promised to make this December a decidedly less joyful time.

The company’s president and chief executive, Jay Foreman, had to lay off a dozen workers recently, in part on fears that another round of China tariffs would take effect Sunday and hit his business hard.

Foreman won a reprieve Friday when Trump canceled those tariffs and announced the details of a “phase one” China trade deal that would ease economic hostilities. But he’s not breathing a full sigh of relief amid anxiety that the truce with China could prove fleeting.

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Winners and losers in Trump’s ‘phase one’ China trade deal

Washington Post logoPresident Trump and China finally agreed to a partial trade deal on Friday, putting the 21-month trade war between the world’s two largest economies on pause — for now.

Trump’s White House rushed to characterize it as “amazing” and “historic.” Top Chinese officials held a rare news conference to emphasize this deal was a win for them that meets the “growing needs of the Chinese people.” Stocks hit record highs Thursday as Wall Street applauded the news, but stocks ended little changed Friday as details trickled out. Democratic leaders and many China hawks slammed Trump, saying he caved too easily. Many business groups were cautiously optimistic.

The full text of the deal has not been made public, but Trump’s team and Chinese officials confirmed that the president agreed to scale back some tariffs in exchange for China buying about $200 billion more of U.S. goods in the next two years and opening up to U.S. financial firms.

Trump, China announce ‘Phase One’ trade deal

NOTE:  This agreement means NEW tariffs won’t go into effect.  The previous rounds of tariffs remain in effect.

The Hill logoPresident Trump and China on Friday announced that they had reached a “phase one” trade deal that would see a reduction in tariffs from both sides and increase China’s purchases of U.S. agricultural products.

“We have agreed to a very large Phase One Deal with China,” Trump announced on Twitter, adding that negotiations on “Phase 2” of the deal would begin immediately, rather than after the 2020 election.

Trump and his administration pushed back at reports that he had agreed to halve the tariffs on billions of Chinese imports.

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White House opens new fronts in trade war, targeting Brazil, Argentina and France

Washington Post logoTrump has accused the three countries of economic actions that he says disadvantage U.S. companies.

President Trump revved up his global trade war on two fronts Monday, announcing tariffs on industrial metals from Brazil and Argentina while threatening even harsher penalties on dozens of popular French products.

The administration said the moves were necessary because U.S. trading partners were acting unfairly to disadvantage both the country’s traditional economic pillars as well as its best hopes for future prosperity.

In a predawn tweet, Trump said he was ordering new tariffs on steel and aluminum from Brazil and Argentina to counter what he called a “massive devaluation of their currencies” at the expense of American farmers. The unexpected announcement upends the Latin American countries’ 2018 agreement with Trump to accept quotas on their shipments to the United States instead of the import taxes.

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Trump says he might veto legislation that aims to protect human rights in Hong Kong because bill could affect China trade talks

Washington Post logoThe legislation easily passed Congress with a veto-proof majority.

President Trump suggested Friday that he might veto legislation designed to support pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong — despite its near-unanimous support in the House and Senate — to pave the way for a trade deal with China.

Speaking on the “Fox & Friends” morning program, the president said that he was balancing competing priorities in the U.S.-China relationship.

“We have to stand with Hong Kong, but I’m also standing with President Xi [Jinping],” Trump said. “He’s a friend of mine. He’s an incredible guy…But I’d like to see them work it out. Okay. We have to see and work it out. But I stand with Hong Kong. I stand with freedom. I stand with all of the things that we want to do, but we also are in the process of making the largest trade deal in history. And if we could do that, that would be great.”

View the complete November 22 article by David J. Lynch on The Washington Post website here.

New Report Shows How Americans Pay For Trump’s Trade War

Farmers have been filing for bankruptcy at record rates, economic growth is stalled, and manufacturing is in a recession — all contrary to Donald Trump’s promises that he would return the economy to four percent growth and be the “greatest jobs president God ever created.”

Now a United Nations report released Tuesday “finds implicit evidence that the cost of the tariffs has been generally passed down to United States consumers.”

“US consumers are paying for the tariffs,” said Alessandro Nicita, an economist at the U.N.’s trade agency, “in terms of higher prices.”

View the complete November 9 article by Nick Vachon on the National Memo website here.

In latest China pivot, Trump says partial trade deal might not be completed this year

Washington Post logoPresident Trump suggested on Friday that the United States and China may not complete a partial trade deal this year, raising fresh doubts about prospects for a commercial truce that once was expected to be signed next weekend.

“We’ll see what happens,” the president replied when a reporter asked if the agreement would be concluded in 2019.

Speaking on the south lawn of the White House, the president added to confusion over the state of the roller coaster talks. He denied reports — which the White House had confirmed one day earlier — that he had agreed to remove some tariffs as part of an initial deal.

View the complete November 8 article by David J. Lynch on The Washington Post website here.

Trump has no China trade pact, but he does have a signing location in mind

2020 battleground state of Iowa is president’s preferred spot

President Donald Trump gave no indication Friday he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are closer to signing a “Phase One” trade pact, but he does have a place in mind where a signing event for it could happen — a battleground state that has borne the brunt of the U.S.-China trade war.

“It could even be in Iowa,” he told reporters on the White House South Lawn as he departed for a campaign rally in Mississippi. “I would do it in the U.S. He would too,” he added, speaking for Xi.

Trump contended that Iowa is a “possibility” because the deal would be a windfall for farmers. As the president has escalated the trade conflict with China, Iowa has seen a drop-off in exports there of two of its biggest sources of income: pork and soybeans.

View the complete November 1 article by John T. Bennett on The Roll Call website here.

Trump Claims Farmers Are Happy With Him, Farmers Say That’s ‘B.S.’

Last week, Trump claimed “now it’s really working out” for farmers who have it “nice and easy” because of his policies — it’s not. Farmers know that the Trump administration is not helping them, and as one farmer said, “it’s time for them to put their money where their mouth is.”

Farmers across the country see through Trump’s lies and broken promises:

“We’ve been promised a lot of things throughout these negotiations and not all of them have come to fruition.” – Missouri soybean farmer Continue reading “Trump Claims Farmers Are Happy With Him, Farmers Say That’s ‘B.S.’”

China Wants More Talks Before Signing Trade Deal With Trump

China wants to hold more talks this month to hammer out the details of the “phase one” trade deal touted by Donald Trump before Xi Jinping agrees to sign it, according to people familiar with the matter.

Beijing may send a delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He, China’s top negotiator, to finalize a written deal that could be signed by the presidents at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit next month in Chile, one of the people said. Another person said China also wants Trump to scrap a planned tariff hike in December in addition to the hike scheduled for this week, something the administration hasn’t yet endorsed. The people asked not to be named discussing the private negotiations.

The S&P 500 Index was little changed, Europe’s Stoxx 600 fell and the yen rose as investors grew pessimistic on the handshake deal. The yuan pared much of its earlier gains offshore.

View the complete October 14 article on the Bloomberg News website here.