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Trump urges U.S. companies to dump China as trade war escalates

The trade war between the United States and China is escalating with threats of new tariffs, and President Trump sent out a tweet storm directing companies to come home.

Asif Khan

August 23, 2019 9:35 AM

CNN Money/Shutterstock

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The trade war between the United States and China is escalating as both sides threaten new tariffs in response to stalled talks. Today, President Trump took to his bully pulpit on Twitter to send a message to all American companies.

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

Here is Trump's entire tweet thread deciphered into English:

"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, and they want to continue. I won’t let that happen! We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far 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 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 and refuse 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!"

The U.S. stock market tanked on the news that China and Trump are escalating the trade war. Shares of multinational Apple Inc. (AAPL) were down nearly $10/share from their high of the day as the Cupertino tech giant manufactures a lot of their products in China. Many companies have joined in the selloff, but Apple has largely been a poster child of this trade war between the United States and China. In a press conference with the President of Romania, Trump said that "somebody had to take China on."

"China's been ripping this country off for 25 years, for longer than that, and it's about time, whether it's good for our country or bad for our country short term, long term it's imperative that somebody does this." Trump is taking a hard line against China and even said that the stock market would be 10,000 points higher if he would just give up on the trade war. He even described himself as "the Chosen One" during another press briefing. 

The trade war between the United States and China continues to escalate, which will lead to more volatility in the stock market, and a potential global economic slowdown in the future. President Trump doesn't seem to be too worried about the short term, and it is likely that things will get even dicier this afternoon when he announces his response to China's $75 billion in new tariffs announced this morning. We will continue to stay on this story as the current tariffs will directly impact the prices of consumer products, technology, and even automobiles. Stay tuned to hear which tariffs Trump dumps on China next.

Asif Khan

CEO/EIC/EIEIO

Asif Khan is the CEO, EIC, and majority shareholder of Shacknews. He began his career in video game journalism as a freelancer in 2001 for Tendobox.com. Asif is a CPA and was formerly an investment adviser representative. After much success in his own personal investments, he retired from his day job in financial services and is currently focused on new private investments. His favorite PC game of all time is Duke Nukem 3D, and he is an unapologetic fan of most things Nintendo. Asif first frequented the Shack when it was sCary's Shugashack to find all things Quake. When he is not immersed in investments or gaming he is a purveyor of fine electronic music. Asif also has an irrational love of Cleveland sports.