President Donald Trump says the coronavirus pandemic highlights the importance of U.S. manufacturing and moving supply chains out of China, as he blamed that country anew for not doing enough to slow the pandemic.
The letter is part of a growing call among state elected officials pointing blame at China for economic loss and deaths caused by the coronavirus.
The world’s largest economies delivered more worrisome cues Monday as anxiety over the virus outbreak sent stock and oil prices plunging and closed sites from the Sistine Chapel to Saudi Arabian schools.
Oil prices are plunging amid worries that an OPEC dispute will lead an economy weakened by COVID-19 to be awash in an oversupply of crude.
The agricultural shopping spree is part of a campaign to address complaints about the trade surplus and difficulties U.S. companies face in accessing Vietnamese markets.
The cancellations and travel restrictions are a major blow to business travel, which makes up around 26% of the total travel spending. The Global Business Travel Association estimates the virus is costing the business travel industry $47 billion per month.
The Dow Jones industrial average slumped more than 3% and gave up all of its gains for the year as a surge in virus cases and a worrisome spread of the disease outside the epicenter in China sent investors running for safety.
China’s economy is being rocked by the new virus that has infected more than 75,000 people and forced many businesses and factories to temporarily close.
Goods affected by the latest reduction include industrial components and medical and factory equipment.
Local officials have orders from the ruling Communist Party to get businesses functioning again while still enforcing anti-disease curbs that have shut down much of the world’s second-largest economy.
The cuts follow last month’s signing of a “Phase 1” agreement toward ending a long-running tariff war over Beijing’s technology ambitions and trade surplus.
Health experts don’t know how far the virus will spread and how bad the crisis will get, yet stocks are rallying as if investors are expecting no more than a modest hit to the global economy.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the gap between what the United States sells and what it buys abroad fell 1.7% last year, to $616.8 billion.
If much of industrial China remains on lockdown for the next few weeks, Western retailers, auto companies and manufacturers that depend on Chinese imports will start to run out of the goods they depend on.
The dangerous virus spreading through China threatens a wide range of industries with ties to the world’s second largest economy.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law a major rewrite of the rules of trade with Canada and Mexico that he said replaces the “nightmare” of a Clinton-era agreement and will keep jobs, wealth and growth in America.
President Donald Trump signed a trade agreement Wednesday with China that is expected to boost exports from U.S. farmers and manufacturers, protect American trade secrets and lower tensions in a long-running dispute between the world’s two biggest economies.
President Donald Trump and China’s chief negotiator, Liu He, are scheduled to sign a modest trade agreement on Wednesday in which the administration will ease some sanctions on China and Beijing will step up its purchases of U.S. farm products and other goods.
The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that the resumption of the talks was set to be announced on Wednesday when the Trump administration signs a Phase One trade agreement with China in Washington, D.C.
The latest step is intended to “promote the coordinated development of trade and environment,” the official Xinhua News Agency in China said.
