Trump suspends new tariffs against China, market reacts positively

The American fashion industry is breathing a sigh of relief after Donald Trump shelved plans to add tariffs of up to 25 percent on Chinese goods including apparel and footwear -- at least for now. Trump agreed to restart trade talks with China at the G20 Conference on Saturday, maintaining existing tariffs while negotiations continue. The news was welcomed by the stock market, with some fashion and footwear stocks soaring, such as Nike, which went up 1.8 percent to 86 US dollars, and L Brands (Victoria’s Secret), which increased 2 percent to 26.61 US dollars.

“I had a great meeting with President Xi of China yesterday, far better than expected”, said Trump in a series of tweets. “I agreed not to increase the already existing tariffs that we charge China while we continue to negotiate. China has agreed that, during the negotiation, they will begin purchasing large amounts of agricultural product from our great farmers”. Trump added that he is in no hurry to reach an agreement with China, as “the quality of the transaction is far more important to me than speed”.

Meanwhile, it looks like the European Union is the next target of Trump’s tariff war. The United States Trade Representative announced on Monday plans to impose new tariffs on 89 EU goods (mostly food items) worth 4 billion US dollars.