Stock markets fall amid fresh worries over US-China trade deal – business live

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Trading relations between the US and China appear to have taken a turn for the worse again. Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would impose “even higher” tariffs on imports from China if a deal isn’t struck.

The US has also put pressure on China with the House of Representatives passing legislation aimed at protecting the rights of protesters in Hong Kong.

A “phase one” trade deal between the US and China may slip into next year, as Beijing pushes for wider tariff rollbacks and the Trump administration steps up its own demands, Reuters reported, citing trade experts and people close to the White House.

Asked about the trade negotiations with China, Trump told reporters in Texas last night: “I don’t think they’re stepping up to the level that I want.”

US stock markets have been hitting record highs recently and some European markets have been at multi-year highs, so Trump’s remarks prompted traders to unwind some positions, analysts noted.

The next key date is 15 December, when new US tariffs on $156bn of Chinese goods are due to come into effect, including electronics and Christmas decorations.

Christian Whiton, a senior fellow for strategy and trade at the think tank Center for the National Interest, who is a former adviser to the Trump and George W. Bush administrations, told Reuters:

If talks are really going well, that hike will be suspended. If not, the US will implement them and that will throw the game into next year.

In a dinner speech in Beijing, China’s top negotiator, Liu He, said he was “cautiously optimistic” about signing a preliminary deal with the US – although he also told one of the attendees that he was “confused” about the US demands, Bloomberg reported.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 both lost 0.4%.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.4%, South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.35%, Japan’s Nikkei shed 0.48% and Shanghai’s Composite Index slipped 0.25%. European shares are also expected to open lower.

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