Stock markets slid again Friday as China matched new U.S. tariffs, deepening the trade war President Donald Trump kicked off this week and signaling more global economic turmoil ahead.
Beijing announced an additional 34 percent tariff on U.S. goods, the same rate Trump had imposed on Chinese imports on Wednesday — a move that Chinese officials called “inconsistent with international trade rules.”
The development signaled more pain on Wall Street, which suffered hefty losses a day earlier. At Friday’s close, the S&P 500 fell nearly 6 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 5.5 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was off 5.8 percent — firmly in bear market territory, or down more than 20 percent from its recent peak.
This is the stupidest decision yet.
And now China and Europe are strengthening trade, which will leave the US out:
Hours after failing to stave off U.S. tariffs during meetings in Washington last month, the European Union’s trade representative landed in Beijing to a warmer reception. After meetings with Chinese officials, Maros Sefcovic, the trade representative, heralded E.U.-China ties, with both sides signaling their intent to deepen “trade and investment.”.....
Europe has long looked warily on China’s economic power, discouraged from engaging by the U.S. but also out of a homegrown sense of distrust. But as President Donald Trump levies crippling tariffs on Europe, China and the rest of the world, the E.U. is cautiously looking to Beijing as one way to achieve what it now calls a need to “diversify” its economic partners in the face of U.S. aggression.
This is utter stupidity.