Chinese officials have increasingly tried to look past President Trump’s day-to-day remarks about the negotiations and have focused on trying to obtain the best deal they can from Robert E. Lighthizer, the United States trade representative, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. But the president’s remarks continue to receive attention on Chinese social media and are followed closely in financial markets around the world.
The remarks followed several moves on Monday that renewed the president’s threats of a global trade war. The president announced on Twitter Monday morning that he would impose tariffs on metals from Brazil and Argentina. Later that day, his administration said it might place tariffs as high as 100 percent on $2.4 billion of French imports in response to a new French tax on American technology companies.
Those moves have reignited uncertainty in a global trade war that had appeared to be calming as the presidential election approaches. In the last several months, the Trump administration has announced a trade deal with Japan, postponed a decision to place devastating tariffs on European cars, and pushed for the ratification of its revised North American trade deal.
Many Wall Street analysts have expected the president to try to gain more bragging rights for the 2020 election by finalizing a trade pact with China by the end of the year. That timeline would also allow the administration to avoid the Dec. 15 tariff increase, which will raise the prices of smartphones and electronics and potentially anger voters.
But in his public remarks, Mr. Trump has frequently said that he is happy to further raise American tariffs, which are already at their highest point in decades. He has repeatedly welcomed the contributions of the tariffs to the government’s coffers, and erroneously claimed that the levies are having no impact on American businesses.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/business/economy/trump-china-trade.html?emc=rss&partner=rss
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