What happened
President Trump slapped a fresh round
of tariffs on Chinese exports last week,
escalating his year-long trade war and
roiling global markets, after China showed
little sign of softening in the latest round of
talks. Trump said the U.S. would impose
a 10 percent duty on another $300 billion
in Chinese exports on Sept. 1, adding to
25 percent tariffs already levied on $
billion in goods. The announcement came
one day after U.S. negotiators returned
from fruitless talks in Shanghai—and
Trump castigated China for breaking a
promise to buy American farm products
he claims Chinese President Xi Jinping made in June. “That is
the problem with China, they just don’t come through,” Trump
tweeted. China responded by devaluing the yuan to its lowest level
against the dollar since 2008 and vowing to halt American farm
imports while also taxing those recently purchased.The effects of the new tariffs could quickly become apparent in
stores: Sixty-two percent of the products slated for tariffs are con-
sumer goods, including apparel and footwear, toys, and cell phones.
By one estimate, the cost of an iPhone will jump $75 to $100. Stocks
retreated globally on the news, including a 2.9 percent tumble in the
Dow Jones industrial average. That was the index’s worst single-day
performance since Dec. 24, as investors braced for the possibility
of a protracted global slump. In the U.S., Moody’s Analytics raised
the chances of recession over the next year to 50 percent from 35.
Trump’s tariffs came one day after the Federal Reserve cut interest
rates for the fi rst time since 2008, partly, Chairman Jerome Powell
said, in response to “downside risks” from “trade tensions.”What the editorials said
Trump’s latest tariff salvo is “no more likely to produce” a deal
than previous rounds, said Bloomberg.com. The pain of the levies is
primarily felt by not by China, but by U.S. consumers shouldering
higher costs and manufacturers who must overhaul intricate supply
chains. Moreover, Trump’s unreasonable demands have unwisely
painted “any prospective compromise as a Chinese surrender.” He
would have done better to fi nd ways to give China an out and spin
concessions as being in China’s interest.Trump’s “trade war has now become
a currency war,” said The Wall Street
Journal. After China devalued the yuan,
the U.S. Treasury Department branded
China “a currency manipulator”—a
provocative designation that can trigger
still more tariffs. Global markets tanked.
Any further devaluation could trigger a
“debt crisis” among Chinese companies
that must service hundreds of billions of
dollars in debts with a devalued yuan. If
China’s economy plunges into recession, it
will “end badly for everyone.”What the columnists said
This trade war is pushing us into what former Treasury Secretary
Larry Summers calls “the most dangerous fi nancial moment since
the 2009 Financial Crisis,” said Heather Long in The Washington
Post, The consensus on Wall Street is that “it’s going to get worse
before it gets better.” U.S. economic growth has already cooled to
a 2 percent pace. Now the tariffs dampen the prospects even more,
and “the bond market is signaling a coming recession.”Ironically, the market’s stumble over China and the weakening
economy could give Trump the rate cut he wants from the Fed, said
Shuli Ren in Bloomberg.com. Trump used the yuan devaluation as
a cudgel to “berate the Fed” and push for lower interest rates. “As
Beijing well knows, sometimes a leader’s belligerence toward other
nations is really aimed at an audience at home.”Trump is fi ghting the right fi ght at the right time, said Salvatore
Babones in NationalInterest.org. China is feeling real pain as manu-
facturers fl ee to Vietnam and India while the American economy
employs “record numbers of people.” Over time, China will only
become stronger and protecting American intellectual property will
be more diffi cult. “If 1989 was the historical moment to squeeze the
Soviet Union, then 2019 is the historical moment to squeeze China.”With his latest gambit, Trump is jeopardizing his chances in 2020,
said Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post. His staunch red-state
supporters took another blow when China vowed to stop buying
U.S. agricultural products. With a “suicidal” trade war, Trump elimi-
nates “the sole rationale for his reelection: the economic recovery.”Exports wait in Shanghai’s Yangshan PortGe
tty,
AP
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Growing trade war with China puts economy at risk
... and how they were covered NEWS^5
It wasn’t all bad QA French inventor successfully flew across the English
Channel this week on his homemade, jet-powered hover-
board. Franky Zapata completed the 22-mile journey from
France to England in 22 minutes, hitting speeds of up to
110 mph. Propelled by five turbojets, the hoverboard is
powered by a backpack filled with kerosene. Halfway through
the flight, Zapata had to
make a refueling stop on
a boat-mounted platform.
The 40-year-old former Jet
Ski champion said the ex-
perience of landing on the
white cliffs of Dover was
“amazing.” Spectator Mark
Kerr was also impressed,
saying: “Not every day you
see a man standing up, fly-
ing across the Channel.”QNathan Patterson was just a
baseball fan with a good arm
when he attended a Colorado
Rockies game last month. Then the
23-year-old stepped into a pitching
booth and threw a 94 mph fast-
ball, then another at 96 mph. His
brother Christian tweeted a video
of the pitch along with an appeal:
“@MLB Let’s get him signed!” Pat-
terson had caught the attention of
the Oakland Athletics last year af-
ter throwing a 96 at a booth in the
Nashville Sounds’ stadium. After
being wowed by the new video,
the A’s offered him a minor league
contract. “Words cannot describe
this feeling,” said Patterson.QA Polish World War II veteran
and the Polish nurse who treated
him at a military hospital in Italy in
1944 have been reunited in a British
nursing home. Waclaw Domagala,
now 94, fought with the Allies at the
Battle of Monte Cassino and lost his
left leg in combat. One of his most
vivid memories of the time, he said,
was the “angel” who nursed him
back to health. So when Maria Kow-
alska turned up at the seniors home
in southwest England, Domagala
recognized her instantly, although
she was 21 in 1944 and is now 96.
“How could I forget her?” he said. Zapata approaches Dover.