US President Donald Trump cranked up the heat on Friday in a trade battle with China, ordering a tariff hike on almost all remaining imports from the world's second-biggest economy, putting at risk global growth and the stability of financial markets.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had received a “beautiful letter” from Chinese President Xi Jinping, as negotiations on a trade deal between the two countries continue in Washington.
Asian markets once again fell into the red on Thursday as investors anxiously await the start of high-stakes trade talks between China and the United States. After several rounds of negotiations, the two-day meeting in Washington, which kicks off later in the day, has taken on huge significance after Donald Trump threatened to ramp up tariffs on Chinese goods from Friday blaming backsliding by Beijing.
A red wave swept across Asia trading floors on Wednesday as investors grow increasingly concerned that the China-US trade deal, which appeared all by ready to sign, could fall through.
Top US trade officials said on Monday that China had backtracked on previous commitments made in talks, and that this reversal was what prompted President Donald Trump’s earlier announcement that the United States would raise tariffs on billions of Chinese goods next Friday.
Donald Trump has said he will raise tariffs on US$ 200bn of Chinese goods because talks on a US-China trade deal are moving “too slowly”. The US president tweeted that tariffs of 10% on certain goods would rise to 25% on Friday, and US$ 325bn of untaxed goods could face 25% duties “shortly”.
China is considering cancelling a planned Washington trip this week by the country's top trade negotiator, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Beijing was surprised by US President Donald Trump's threat to levy new tariffs on trade with the country, the Journal reported, citing a person it didn't identify. The country doesn't want to negotiate under threat, the newspaper said.
The US and China are due to begin a fresh round of talks in Beijing on Tuesday as they edge closer to resolving their damaging trade dispute. The discussions will be led by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.
Britain's splintered government was rocked on Friday by a growing scandal over who leaked news that Prime Minister Theresa May has conditionally allowed Chinese giant Huawei to develop the UK 5G network.
The growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in China stabilized 6.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, despite falling global demand and the trade war with the United States. The figure was announced on Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (BNS), along with other rather optimistic indicators on the health of the world's second largest economy.