Executive Summary

On May 5, US President Donald Trump threatened to escalate tariffs on goods imported from China, just ahead of a planned series of meetings this week some were hoping would end the trade dispute.

• Trump threatened to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10% to 25% on May 10, and impose 25% tariffs “shortly” on an additional $325 billion worth of Chinese goods.
• There are rumors that Chinese officials might cancel this week’s talks in Washington that many expected to be the final round of negotiations, but during a Monday news conference, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the trade delegation is still preparing to travel to the US for the talks.
• Stock markets fell on the news: Dow Jones Industrial Average futures declining around 66.47 points or 0.3% end of day Monday US local time, sliding more than 450 points earlier on Monday morning.