President Trump’s trade war with China was top of mind for traders in Friday afternoon trading.
The Dow was down 183 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 was down 0.8%. The Nasdaq Composite was down 1.4%.
The market took a turn toward session lows after a headline from Bloomberg hit a wires about plans for the U.S. to crack down on subsidiaries of companies that face U.S. tech restrictions. The Invesco Golden Dragon China ETF was down 3.2%.
Stocks were trading sideways for much of the session so far after the president claimed on Truth Social that China “TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US.” The post followed comments last night from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said talks with China were “a bit stalled.”
Liu Pengyu, a Chinese embassy spokesperson, said in a Friday statement that the two sides have maintained communications since the talks in Geneva. “Recently, China has repeatedly raised concerns with the US regarding its abuse of export control measures in the semiconductor sector and other related practices,” he said. “China once again urges the US to immediately correct its erroneous actions, cease discriminatory restrictions against China and jointly uphold the consensus reached at the high-level talks in Geneva.”
If you though trade talks with China would be smooth sailing from here on out: think again.
