Tag: Trump tariffs

Wall Street ends volatile month in major test for Trump

The Hill logoWall Street ended a wild August with the Dow up slightly on Friday, capping a tumultuous month for the global economy that spurred a wave of volatility in financial markets and posed a challenge for President Trump.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 index and Nasdaq closed the final day of August trading little changed from their Friday opens, with the Dow and S&P up only 0.2 and 0.1 percent, respectively.

But the three indices were well below their levels at the start of the month after a notoriously rough stretch for Wall Street. The Dow fell 1.76 percent in August, down 474 points. The index this month suffered two of its seven largest point losses, falling by 800 points on Aug. 14 and 767 points on Aug. 5.

View the complete August 30 article by Sylvan Lane on The Hill website.

Republicans grow anxious about the Trump economy

Trump’s trade war with China could undermine GOP chances of holding the White House and Senate in 2020.

Republicans have sat patiently with President Donald Trump on his tariff roller-coaster ride with China. Now they’re starting to feel queasy.

Trump argues his escalating trade war will force China to the table for a deal. But his ever-rising tariffs — and his market-rattling tweets — are increasingly alarming the GOP.

View the complete August 29 article by Burgess Everett on the Politico website here.

China Tariff Costs by Congressional District

Center for American Progress logoThe Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on goods from China has proven to be an expensive sacrifice for families and businesses while accomplishing virtually nothing for working people in the United States. According to estimates from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the average American household will pay $831 per year to cover the China tariffs that are already in effect. Others have predicted even greater effects of the tariffs so far, including JPMorgan, which estimates the tariffs’ annual cost at $1,000 per household. However, since the release of both studies, the administration has substantially escalated its so-called trade war, likely putting even more of a pinch on consumers in the United States. As is the case with the rest of the its economic policies, the administration has put business interests over working people.

Methodology

Tariff costs for congressional districts are calculated by multiplying the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s estimate for the total annual cost of the China tariffs to the typical household—$831—by the number of households in each congressional district, as estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Since this study’s release, President Donald Trump has imposed new tariffs at a higher rate on a variety of Chinese goods, and the Chinese have responded with additional retaliatory tariffs. The latest round of tariffs, which will partially go into effect on September 1, with a second wave hitting on December 15, will further these harms on working people and consumers. Therefore, this calculator likely underestimates the total effect of the tariffs on congressional districts.

Daniella Zessoules is a research assistant for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress.

Author’s note: The total annual cost to consumers is an undercount. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s estimate was derived under the assumption of 127.6 million households in the United States in 2018. However, the best available data at the district level only identify 121.3 million households.

View the complete August 29 article by Daniella Zessoules on the Center for American Progress website here.

Farmers’ Frustration With Trump Grows as U.S. Escalates China Fight

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — Peppered with complaints from farmers fed up with President Trump’s trade war, Sonny Perdue found his patience wearing thin. Mr. Perdue, the agriculture secretary and the guest of honor at the annual Farmfest gathering in southern Minnesota this month, tried to break the ice with a joke.

“What do you call two farmers in a basement?” Mr. Perdue asked near the end of a testy hourlong town-hall-style event. “A whine cellar.”

A cascade of boos ricocheted around the room.

American farmers have become collateral damage in a trade war that Mr. Trump began to help manufacturers and other companies that he believes have been hurt by China’s “unfair” trade practices.

View the complete August 27 article by Alan Rappeport on The New York Times website here.

Trump blames Fed for manufacturing slowdown

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Tuesday blamed the Federal Reserve for a recent slowdown in manufacturing, a key sector he promised to revive as a candidate.

“The Federal Reserve loves watching our manufacturers struggle with their exports to the benefit of other parts of the world,” he tweeted. “Our Fed has been calling it wrong for too long!”

The manufacturing sector’s output has shrunk for two consecutive quarters, meeting the widely accepted definition of a recession. It has been among the hardest-hit sectors from Trump’s escalating trade war with China.

View the complete August 27 article by Niv Elis on The Hill website here.

US, Japan move closer to limited trade deal

NOTE:  Trump announced this as a deal at the G-7, but it appears there is no firm deal.

Trump, Abe outline possible deal that could open Japanese markets to $7 billion in U.S. goods

The United States and Japan have reached a tentative agreement that could give President Donald Trump a trade win for his farm constituency and could protect Japan against steep auto tariffs that the administration is threatening to impose on imported vehicles.

Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe outlined the agreement in principle on agriculture, industrial tariffs and digital trade Sunday during the G-7 summit in France. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the agreement, if finalized, would open Japanese markets to an additional $7 billion in U.S. products.

Abe said negotiators will continue to fine-tune the language. The two leaders said they hoped to sign the agreement in New York in late September when the U.N. General Assembly meets. There was no mention of whether Congress would have a role in approving the agreement.

View the complete August 26 article by Ellyn Ferguson on The Roll Call website here.

Trump insists trade talks have restarted with China, but details are elusive

Washington Post logoBIARRITZ, France — After several days of whiplash statements about China that brought new tariffs, olive branches, countermeasures, reversals and bravado, President Trump on Monday said trade negotiations are set to resume once more.

“We’ve gotten two calls and very, very good calls,” Trump told reporters at the Group of Seven summit. “Very productive calls. They mean business. They want to be able to make a deal.”

Trump later clarified that the calls had occurred as recently as Sunday evening. Other administration officials were more circumspect, and it wasn’t clear how substantive any interaction had been. “There were discussions that went back and forth, let’s leave it at that,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters.

View the complete August 26 article by Damian Paletta and David J. Lynch on The Washington Post website here.

G-7 summit ends with little consensus amid Trump’s mixed messaging on the trade war

Washington Post logoBIARRITZ, France —  President Trump’s divergence on key international flash points, particularly trade, the climate and Russian provocation, upended a consortium of world leaders that was created four decades ago to address major crises.

On Monday, when leaders at the Group of Seven summit traveled home after the three-day meeting, their differences appeared to have sharpened, and many agreements seemed further out of reach. And in his concluding news conference, Trump appeared content with the way the meeting ended — without major breakthroughs.

All eyes were on the U.S. president, in part because of the burgeoning trade war between the White House and China. Trump said that he felt personal “unity” during talks, and that he was pressed to explain his strategy by several world leaders but wouldn’t back down.

View the complete August 26 article by Toluse Olorunnipa, Michael Birnbaum, Damian Paletta and Josh Dawsey on The Washington Post website here.

‘Accept the pain’: Lindsey Graham defends Trump’s escalating trade war with China

Washington Post logoAs markets have reacted with turmoil to President Trump’s escalating threats against China, one of the president’s staunchest allies in Congress had a stark message for American businesses and consumers: “Accept the pain” that comes with a trade war.

“We’ve just got to accept the pain that comes with standing up to China,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) in a Sunday appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “How do you get China to change without creating some pain on them and us? I don’t know.”

Trump caused strife in trading rooms on Friday when he promised a 5-percentage-point increase on all existing and planned Chinese tariffs and then “ordered” U.S. firms to stop doing business in China. Those threats came at an already volatile moment, with American indicators suggesting a potential recession and Trump questioning on Twitter whether Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell is an “enemy” of the United States.

View the complete August 26 article by Tim Elfrink on The Washington Post website here.

White House says Trump pressing forward amid escalation of China trade war

The Hill logoPresident Trump‘s economic advisers and allies on Sunday defended the trade war with China as necessary and beneficial to the U.S. after a week of mounting tensions.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday”that Trump remained “as determined as ever” in the trade war.

The president earlier seemed to indicate he regretted escalating the trade war with Beijing, though the White House quickly pushed back on that interpretation, saying Sunday that Trump regrets not imposing even higher tariffs.

View the complete August 25 article by Zack Burdryk on The Hill website here.