Stocks Slip As Observers Show Doubts Over How ‘Big’ Trump’s Deal With China Really Is
Wall Street has been up and down over the past few days, with many blaming uncertainty surrounding trade talks between the United States and China for the market’s volatility.
The stock market saw significant gains on Monday after the G-20 summit in Argentina ended. Many credited President Donald Trump’s deal-making prowess with China over tariffs for those gains.
However, on Tuesday, investors on Wall Street became wary of the deal Trump had announced between the two nations, as it seemed he was overselling promises he allegedly received from leaders in Beijing.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank by 585 points on Tuesday as a result, according to reporting from MarketWatch. Gains that were made on Monday were lost, and sank even lower, due to the loss in confidence in Trump’s supposed bargain with China.
Trump praised himself over the weekend in a slew of tweets, suggesting that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had reached a tentative agreement on the issue of tariffs. “Relations with China have taken a BIG leap forward! Very good things will happen,” Trump tweeted out.
However, details of the supposed agreement between the two nations are fuzzy as yet. White House officials seem to be scrambling to find data and create proof that things are moving in a positive direction, according to reporting from Vox, and Chinese officials have not confirmed some key aspects of the ongoing negotiations that Trump has said would come into place.
Pres. Trump claims "BIG leap forward" in China trade talks, but details remain unclear. https://t.co/NFKHUJpooa pic.twitter.com/o3zXumSno0
— ABC News (@ABC) December 3, 2018
For example, on Sunday Trump tweeted out that Chinese tariffs on American vehicles entering the country would be reduced, implying an agreement was reached. But even the president’s own National Economic Council Director, Larry Kudlow, could not fully corroborate those claims by the president.
“We don’t yet have a specific agreement on that, but I will just tell you, as an involved participant, we expect those tariffs to go to zero,” Kudlow said, apparently acknowledging that such a deal hadn’t been agreed upon yet, but that it was an expected goal of the administration. Chinese officials have not confirmed such an agreement, either.
Officials between the two nations did agree to a “ceasefire” of sorts during the so-called “trade wars.” As part of that agreement, both China and the United States signaled they would have a 90-day period where no new tariffs would be implemented against one another, during which time the two sides would do their best to come up with an agreeable trade pact.
