Trump follows Dow drop with another round of retaliatory tariffs on China

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

published 23 August 2019

President Trump's tweets have sent the stock market tumbling yet again.

After China announced increased tariffs on the U.S. and Trump tweeted a heated response, the Dow Jones Industrial Average immediately began falling and eventually closed down 623 points for the day. The S&P 500 also closed down 2.6 percent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped another 3 percent — just ahead of yet another tariff announcement by Trump.

China said Friday that it would instill tariffs on $75 billion of American products next month in retaliation for the White House's proposed levies. After an inflammatory response which sparked the stock market's Friday afternoon fall, Trump at 5 p.m. sent out a string of tweets announcing he'd increase the current 10 percent tariff rate on $300 billion of Chinese goods to 15 percent starting Sept. 1. He also announced that, starting Oct. 1, the 25 percent tariff on $250 billion in Chinese goods would be upped to 30 percent.

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Trump's immediate reaction after China's announcement was to tweet "we don't need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them." He additionally "ordered" American companies "to immediately start looking for an alternative to China." Trump also lashed out at his own Federal Reserve chair after the central bank failed to guarantee lower interest rates, tweeting "my only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?"

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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