China’s national currency sank following Trump’s earlier threats to hit Beijing with new tariffs in less than a month amid the escalating trade standoff between the two world’s largest economies.
Escalation of USA-China trade tensions spooked investors as Wall Street opened deep in the red on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 580 points, or around 2%, after the opening bell.
US stocks followed the downturn on the Asian markets. Japan’s Nikkei declined 1.74% on trade tensions concerns, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.85% and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 1.62% down.
European stocks also tumbled on Monday with the FTSE 100, representing the leading companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, down 2.78%.
France’s CAC 40 dropped by 2.26% and Germany’s DAX was trading more than 5% lower in late afternoon trading.
US President Donald Trump took to Twitter Monday to call Washington’s trade war rival China a currency manipulator after the renminbi dropped below seven per dollar for the first time in over a decade.
It’s not the first time Trump has slammed China for this, but the US Department of Treasury refrained from officially labeling Beijing a currency manipulator, placing it on the monitoring list instead.
Apart from China, the list now includes Japan, South Korea, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), which is in charge of the yuan’s exchange rate, blamed the weakening of the currency on the US’ own actions, such as unilateral, protectionist measures, as well as the expectation of additional tariffs on Chinese goods, according to Xinhua.
The central bank also said the yuan has strengthened 20% against the dollar over the past two decades.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2019.
First it was if the USA farts, the world goes crazy, now its the Chinese pulling the strings?