Stocks Plummet as Trump’s Trade War With China Worsens

Dow drops over 600 points as Trump threatens escalation

The US trade war with China is going from bad to worse this week, as the broader US market plummeted on news of retaliatory Chinese tariffs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 600 points on Monday.

Trump had long dismissed the idea that a trade war would even hurt the US, and has been aggressively antagonizing China with ever-growing tariffs. China responded with moves against US chemical and agricultural products.

Trump did not address the stock market’s dive, but demanded US consumers avoid the tariffs by just refusing to buy anything from China. He added that “there will be nobody left in China to do business with” when he is done, and that will be “very good for USA.”

Trump went on to warn China against making any retaliation to anything else the US does, saying it “will only get worse.” This is the first time he’s even acknowledged that China has the capacity to retaliate.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.