Donald Trump tried, with some success, to reclaim control of the trade narrative on Monday.
“China called last night our top trade people and said ‘let’s get back to the table'”, the US president told reporters in France, following a harrowing start to trading in the new week that found the yen surging to a three-year high, the offshore yuan diving to a record low and risk assets of all stripes on the back foot.
“So, we’ll be getting back to the table, they want to do something”, Trump continued, adding that China has “been hurt very badly, but they understand this is the right thing to do”.
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Those remarks came roughly four hours after Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said Beijing opposed further escalations with Washington.
Later, Trump took to Twitter to reference Liu’s remarks. “Great respect for the fact that President Xi & his Representatives want ‘calm resolution'”, Trump said. “So impressed that they are willing to come out and state the facts so accurately”.
The Vice Premier’s comments occasioned a U-turn for the yen and Trump’s ramblings eventually managed to push US equity futures into the green, if you can believe it.
“This is why [Xi] is a great leader & representing a great country”, Trump continued, on Twitter. “Talks are continuing!”
Do note that on Friday, Trump called Xi a “big enemy”. 600+ Dow points and one new record low on the offshore yuan later, and Xi is a “great leader representing a great country”.
For his part, Global Times Editor Hu Xijin says Beijing doesn’t know what Trump is talking about.
“Based on what I know, Chinese and US top negotiators didn’t hold phone talks in recent days”, he tweeted in response to Trump’s comments. “The two sides have been keeping contact at technical level [but] it doesn’t have the significance that President Trump suggested”, he went on to say, adding that “China didn’t change its position [and] won’t cave to US pressure”.
Shortly thereafter, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a regular briefing in Beijing that Trump simply isn’t telling the truth. “[The] Ministry has no information on phone calls to the US side cited by Trump”, Geng said. “I can tell you clearly that I haven’t heard of such a thing”.
Later, while seated with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump said he wasn’t aware that China was disputing the calls. “We’ve had calls with China at the highest levels”, he insisted.
Hello Gina. Are you there? This is trump speaking, spiritual leader of the ferenghi people everywhere, conqueror of the chuchapa, King of Israel, the chosen one, and subduer of hurricanes…hello… Ah sir, you are talking to a ketchup bottle and it’s allover you, let me clean that for you, oh dear me…Gina just begged me, and said, Donald you are the greatest genius of all time, can we please make a deal with you, i said no way Wu Ze, because you have to speak Ghinese when talking with Gina, and i know a lot of Ghinese words, some say i have the best ghinese words, Maybe we make a deal or maybe we don’t we will see. Thank you for your attention to this matter. I hereby order all factories to start manufacturing. Sad.
Supreme Leader misspoke again.
He clearly meant to say “we haven’t had calls with Chyyna”
And futures are still up. What a trip. These guys rewarding/investing in a material lie. There just about has to be some kind of crookery going on. Wow.
With re-election and his possible liberty and reputation on the line, do you think Trump could name a second person alive in or from China? Everybody is either Xi, it a representative of Xi.
Unbelievable. Futures make a dramatic turn and no one really believes that China reps made any calls.
I don’t think the market is up because anyone believes Trump’s assertion that China made a call. Instead, the markets are up because Trump is telling the market that he does not want the trade war to cause a crash. More importantly, the fact that he would lie about who made the call is a positive for the markets. The fact that he is concerned about saving face is the clue that he will ultimately relent if the market gets in real trouble. He can always sign a meaningless deal and declare that it is the greatest trade deal of all time. Tariffs would end, and the market would rally. The rally would not be because anyone believes he made the greatest trade deal of all time, but because the trade war is over and there is greater certainty.
Every time Trump signals that he is worried about saving face over all else, the market will and should rally.
“I don’t think the market is up because anyone believes Trump’s assertion that China made a call. Instead, the markets are up because Trump is telling the market that he does not want the trade war to cause a crash”
that is correct. see the linked post below… also, don’t forget that it isn’t all humans reacting to these headlines. algos pull the trigger when the headlines cross and have no way to decide what’s credible and what isn’t.
https://heisenbergreport.com/2019/08/26/bofas-blanch-traditional-models-may-soon-be-obsolete-and-the-world-unforecastable/
The double-cave scenario remains a significant risk.
You gotta love Trump!
He just makes shit Up!, outta whole cloth, and the amazin’ part is, The market laps it up like Moses comin’ down the mountain with stone tablets! ROFLMAO!
The markets are up because it’s a “dead cat bounce” gettin’ ready for the next leg down to 2772.
C’mon maain!!!
If a trader spread lies to move the market, the SEC would quickly come down on them. Can POTUS be impeached for market manipulation?
I hope so!