- Stocks dropped sharply around midday on Friday after Trump revived fears of the trade war with China.
- The president said he would consider a “massive increase” in tariffs on China.
- Investors are concerned that a trade deal with Beijing could be in jeopardy.
US stocks sold off midday Friday as President Donald Trump threatened to revive the trade war with China, with the S&P 500 seeing some of it steepest losses since April.
In a post on Truth Social, the president said he believed China was “becoming very hostile” in trade talks, and that there now seemed like there was “no reason” to speak with China’s President Xi Jinping in South Korea as planned later this month.
Here’s where US indexes stood around 1:30 p.m. ET on Friday:
“One of the Policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States of America,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, adding that there were “many other countermeasures” that were under “serious consideration” in the US.
Trump added that China’s desire to impose export controls on items like rare earth minerals would “clog” markets and “make life difficult for virtually every Country in the World.”
A finalized trade deal with China, one of the US’s largest trading partners, has been at the top of investors’ wish list after tariff anxieties sent markets plummeting earlier this year.
Stocks got a boost after Trump first reached a preliminary trade agreement with China in mid-May, which involved both nations lowering tariffs for a 90-day period that has since been extended. In the last extension, the US agreed to lower its tariff rate to 30% on goods from China, while China is levying a 10% tariff on US goods through November 10.
