People’s Republic of China answers Trump’s tariffs
San José, CA – The day after President Trump levied tariffs on virtually every country in the world, the People’s Republic of China, or PRC, hit back. The PRC matched Trump’s tariff of 34% announced on Thursday with the same 34% tariff on imports from the United States. These are mainly soybeans and other foods, electrical machinery, petroleum and civilian aircraft. In addition, China put restrictions on exports of seven rare earth metals to the United States that are used in making lasers, wind turbines, radar other technology goods.
Up to the time of China’s announcement, futures markets for U.S. stocks looked like the stock market was going to try to bounce back from Thursday’s lows. But once the news hit, the futures began to sink. Not even the March jobs report, which came in much better than expected, was able to stem the drop in stocks. By the end of the day, all the major stock indices – the broad S&P 500, the technology-heavy NASDAQ, and the headline Dow Jones Industrial Average – all fell by almost 6%, even worse than the day before and the worst drop since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. economy in 2020.
The reality of a worldwide trade war, centered by the world’s two largest economies, China and the United States, has finally sunk into investors in U.S. stocks. For the first time, J.P. Morgan Chase, one of the big four U.S. banks, said that they expect a recession in the U.S. economy. Big U.S. retailers such as Target and Best Buy, which sell large numbers of imported goods, have said that prices are likely to rise. Once again stagflation, or a combination of a recession and higher inflation, is raising its head.