Trump Escalates Trade War With China as Latest Talks End

Trade negotiations between the US and China have ended without any deal, leading to President Trump further escalating the bilateral trade war. He announced substantial increases in US tariffs, to 25%, on $200 billion in Chinese imports.

In a series of Tweets cheering his own moves, Trump suggested that the sanctions might remain in place not only during future negotiations, but might never be eased at all. Trump claimed his relationship with China’s President Xi remains strong and talks will continue.

Future talks are purely hypothetical, however. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says that there are no planned talks with China as of now, and there is no timetable for any further talks to be held.

The Trump Administration has myriad problems with China, centered on claims in the South China Sea and the status of Taiwan. President Trump has made an unusual point of really picking fights with the nation economically, arguing that the trade deficit is unfair and that heavy tariffs would force China to accept US demands.

So far, the tariffs have not only failed to make China capitulate, as Trump predicted, but have done substantial harm to the US economy, and have left many investors on US markets very nervous about how everything will shake out.