U.S.-China trade tensions escalated, after the Trump Administration said that it would implement the previously announced 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of Chinese goods “that contain industrially significant technologies” – i.e., those that were highlighted in President Xi’s “Made in China 2025” project, which explicitly focuses on boosting China’s capabilities in sectors where the U.S. is currently a leader.
Read MoreAfter the U.S. imposed previously announced tariffs (25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum) on the European Union, Canada and Mexico last month, a number of you wrote me asking to explain the bottom line when it comes to trade deficits. I know that the rhetoric around trade has been tough to absorb, so here’s my attempt to provide a “Trade Deficit Q&A."
Read MoreAt 12:01am Friday morning, the U.S. imposed previously announced tariffs on the European Union, Canada and Mexico. When the plan was unveiled back in March, the three regions were given a reprieve. The hope was that during a cooling off period, the U.S. would be able to convince the three to restrict metal shipments, as it had been able to do with South Korea, Brazil, Australia and Argentina.
Read MoreSyria! Tariffs! Mueller Investigation! Facebook under Fire! Corporate Earnings! All of these headlines have moved markets over the few weeks, leaving investors whipsawed and exhausted. If you’re keeping score, the Dow and S&P 500 are down slightly on the year (-1.5 percent and -0.7 percent, respectively), while the Russell 2000 and NASDAQ Composite are up (+0.9 percent and +3 percent, respectively).
Read MoreJust as fast as you could say Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 the U.S. - China tariff tiff entered Round 3 last week. As a recap, here’s where we stand:
Read MoreStocks dropped by nearly 3 percent Thursday and another 2 percent on Friday, closing out the steepest one-week percentage decline for US indexes since January 2016. The proximate cause was President Trump's announcement that the U.S. would levy 25 percent tariffs on up to $60 billion dollars worth of Chinese imports.
Read MoreAfter announcing that he would introduce new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, the President tweeted “Trade wars are good”…investors are not so sure. While some would argue that Trump is just making good on his promise to level the international trade playing field, others are concerned that this potential action will hurt the US economy and more importantly, trigger a trade war that could result in the next global recession. You know it’s serious when the Wall Street editorial board called the tariffs “the biggest policy blunder of his presidency”!
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