The Latest on rising trade tensions following comments by President Donald Trump (all times local):
9:13 a.m.
President Donald Trump is criticizing the Federal Reserve as well as some of the largest U.S. trading partners over monetary policy.
In a Friday tweet the president laments rising U.S. interest rates, a day after he cast aside concerns about the Federal Reserve’s independence to say he was unhappy with the central bank’s recent actions.
Trump says: “China, the European Union and others have been manipulating their currencies and interest rates lower, while the U.S. is raising rates while the dollars gets stronger and stronger with each passing day – taking away our big competitive edge.”
He adds: “As usual, not a level playing field…”
Trump made a campaign pledge of designating China as a currency manipulator, but his administration has declined to make an official determination to that effect.
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9:05 a.m.
President Donald Trump is indicating that he’s ready to hit every product imported from China with tariffs, sending U.S. markets sliding before the opening bell.
In a taped interview with the business channel CNBC, Trump said “I’m willing to go to 500,” referring roughly to the $505.5 billion in goods imported last year from China.
The administration to date has slapped tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese goods in a trade dispute over what it calls the nation’s predatory practices.
Dow futures that had already been pointing modestly lower slid sharply about a half hour before the opening bell.
The yuan dipped to a 12-month low of 6.8 to the dollar, off by 7.6 percent since mid-February.
