Trump's Tweets About China And Fed Chairman Incite Market Stumbles... Again
President Donald Trump continued his attacks on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday, calling Powell an “enemy” as the Fed resists drastically altering monetary policy at the president’s whim.
In a tweet misspelling the chairman’s name, Trump, who nominated Powell to chair the central bank in 2017, questioned whether Powell is a greater enemy of America than Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump later deleted the tweet and replaced it with one correctly spelling Powell’s name.
The president’s invective seems to have been inspired by China’s announcement Friday that it will impose additional tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. goods, ramping up the ongoing trade war.
It’s also possible Trump was responding to statements Powell made during a meeting with bankers Friday morning. Although Powell reportedly said the Federal Reserve was prepared to cut interest rates if necessary, the chairman was noncommittal about when these cuts could come or how steep they would be.
After setting his sights on Powell, Trump posted a series of tweets in which he said the U.S. would be “better off” without China and “ordered” U.S. companies to find alternative business partners.
Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual Property at a rate of Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year, & they want to continue. I won’t let that happen! We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
....better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
....your companies HOME and making your products in the USA. I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon. This is a GREAT opportunity for the United States. Also, I am ordering all carriers, including Fed Ex, Amazon, UPS and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR & REFUSE,....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
....all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!). Fentanyl kills 100,000 Americans a year. President Xi said this would stop - it didn’t. Our Economy, because of our gains in the last 2 1/2 years, is MUCH larger than that of China. We will keep it that way!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
U.S. stock markets, responding to the uncertainty of Trump’s “order” that businesses cease relations with China, hemorrhaged almost immediately after Trump’s tweets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average in particular had plunged more than 500 points by early afternoon.
Following his tweetstorm, Trump met with trade advisers Peter Navarro and Robert Lighthizer, according to a report from CNBC.
This latest eruption comes amid recent reports about a slowing U.S. economy and the president’s concerns that it may hinder his reelection chances in 2020.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.