Ok, just to reiterate, the market is hyper-sensitive to trade headlines right now, and that’s understandable. After all, the Trump administration is on the verge of slapping tariffs on another $267 billion in Chinese goods, which would entail the U.S. taxing literally everything China ships to the U.S.
On October 29, reports indicated that a list in conjunction with those new tariffs could be published early next month assuming there is no breakthrough at the G20 when Trump meets with Xi. Three days later, Trump tweeted about a phone call he had with the Chinese President, which he (Trump) described as “very long” and “very nice”. Hours later, Bloomberg published an article that suggested Trump had instructed aides to draft the terms of a truce and that catalyzed the best day for Hong Kong and South Korean shares in seven years.
Read more
Trump Said Ready To Slap Tariffs On All Chinese Imports If Talks With Xi Fail (Which They Will)
Trump Has One Phone Call With Xi, Decides It’s Time To Draft Trade Deal
That was a bit of a false start. Larry Kudlow would subsequently throw cold water on the “draft truce” rumor and since then, we’ve been in limbo. This week, there were tentative signs of progress ahead of the G20 including news that Steve Mnuchin has chatted with the Chinese Vice Premier (again) and reports that Beijing has sent a written response to Washington regarding U.S. demands.
Still, nothing is definitive here and indeed, it was just yesterday (Thursday), when Wilbur Ross explicitly said that a concrete deal before January wasn’t likely, which means that at the very least, the tariff rate on the $200 billion in goods which were hit with 10% duties on September 24, will go up to 25% at the turn of the calendar year.
Given that, it’s hard to get too excited about Friday’s headlines which find Trump contending that he “may not have to do more Chinese tariffs” and that China “wants to make a deal.” The market bounced on that news, and if you were one of the people buying, I’d like to know if you actually watched the clips, because if you had, I think you’d be a bit less enthusiastic.
Fortunately, I have those clips for you so you can make a more informed decision. Here are the actual comments that folks are interpreting as “newsworthy”:
There is exactly nothing in there that Trump hasn’t said at some point before, although the reference to “maybe not having to do more tariffs” is marginally positive, I suppose.
But more important than those throwaway lines is undoubtedly the following clip which finds Trump attempting to describe his trade “strategy” when pressed by reporters to elaborate:
Got that? This whole global plunge into protectionism is predicated on Trump’s assessment of U.S. trade policy which he claims was previously “meant for stupid people.” Decades of work on globalization and free trade was “for stupid people” and now, he and his “very large brain” are going to change that.
If you’re more optimistic about the trade war now than you were on Friday morning based solely on the above soundbites, and you’re trading on that optimism, well then, I guess I would echo the President:
We can’t have trading that’s made for stupid people.
I saw that moron today and he made that ‘stupid people’ comment after he had used his newest word he learned a few months ago – in fact, he repeated it a few times because everything he says he likes to repeat, repeatedly.
He said ‘reciprocal’ at least 3 times and he loves saying it; he even was compelled not long ago to explain the word because surely only he understands those big words. Unlike all the stupid people.
The journalists again let him get away with claiming that billions of dollars have entered the country because of tariffs.
I hear you but the journalist’s job is to report the news and not become the news. We all saw what happened when Acosta confronted him regarding the immigrant ‘caravan’.
His lies about the tariffs is a small portion of all the crap he spews every damned day. Since his greedy Senate pals will do nothing to shut him down, the American voters took matters into their own hands and in January when the new House is installed, his life will change drastically.
Those journalists will rejoice too!
Acosta, IMHO, did the right thing. You said it yourself “his greedy Senate pals will do nothing.” I think Acosta needs to pay them a visit also.
Don’t misunderstand me – I wish they would all give this cretin a blast of reality and hard questions BUT it did not result in a reply — I did like the end result of the court siding in CNN favor! I actually think that was a bigger win than if jackass had actually answered Acosta’s question!
Another problem was that WE, the taxpayer’s paid for defense of the WH even as we agreed with CNN! He has it ‘in for’ Acosta and a couple of others in the media and that kind of confrontation only stimulates his ignorant supporters. You cannot win a fight with a crazy person and you cannot force this group in the WH to answer a question.
So, what did WE win? Acosta is back in the press group BUT the WH clowns do not even have to call on him to ask a question. Whoopee.
What a fucked market we have. All the wheels are now driven by this baboon (apologies to the actual taxon) with one turning in the opposite of the driver and another idle but soon to be asked to drive even though its an idler and then, visa versa. Something very odd is going on and it’s beyond tiresome. The result for me is a vastly diminished respect for the average American who continue to uphold him to the tune of 40%+. This excrescence belongs in a geriatric rubber-room or a jail cell. Our disaster will be not undone for a VERY long time.