President Trump Threatens Additional Tariffs on Chinese Imports Ahead of Crucial Trade Talks

Executive Summary

On May 5, US President Donald Trump threatened to escalate tariffs on goods imported from China, just ahead of a planned series of meetings this week some were hoping would end the trade dispute.

• Trump threatened to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10% to 25% on May 10, and impose 25% tariffs “shortly” on an additional $325 billion worth of Chinese goods.
• There are rumors that Chinese officials might cancel this week’s talks in Washington that many expected to be the final round of negotiations, but during a Monday news conference, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the trade delegation is still preparing to travel to the US for the talks.
• Stock markets fell on the news: Dow Jones Industrial Average futures declining around 66.47 points or 0.3% end of day Monday US local time, sliding more than 450 points earlier on Monday morning.