Trump Threatens China Tariffs, Sees ‘No Reason’ to Meet Xi

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US President Donald Trump threatened a “massive increase” of tariffs on goods from China and to cancel an upcoming meeting with the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, citing recent “hostile” export controls Beijing placed on rare-earth minerals.

“I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so,” Trump posted Friday on social media.

The president added that one form of retaliation the US is considering “is a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States of America,” adding that “there are many other countermeasures that are, likewise, under serious consideration.”

Markets recoiled at the president’s comments, which portended fresh trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 both plummeted, with the latter seeing its biggest drop since April 30. Chicago soybean futures also fell, hitting session lows after the post.

Today's show features:

• Bloomberg TV and Radio International Economics & Policy Correspondent Mike McKee on President Donald Trump’s reversal on a planned meeting with China’s Xi Jinping
• Jayati Bharadwaj, Director of FX Strategy at TD Securities, on the global currency market
• Dana Stroul, Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal and President Donald Trump’s planned visit to the Middle East next week
• Bloomberg Intelligence Global Equity Strategist Gillian Wolff on Friday's market selloff

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