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....of additional goods sent to us by China remain untaxed, but will be shortly, at a rate of 25%. The Tariffs paid to the USA have had little impact on product cost, mostly borne by China. The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2019

Whether they were a negotiating tactic or a sign of something more ominous, Trump’s tweets jolted markets that had been lulled in recent weeks by signs of progress in trade talks, a dovish turn by the Federal Reserve and better-than-expected corporate earnings. Investors who had grown accustomed to cross-asset volatility at or near historically low levels were once again forced to consider that all might not be smooth sailing.

Tariff man is back just in time to make the stock market dive, dive, dive Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank

“When the president puts his foot down, it makes the market go down,” Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York, wrote in an email. “Tariff man is back just in time to make the stock market dive, dive, dive.”

China reportedly was considering nixing the talks that were scheduled to resume Wednesday in Washington, though the Foreign Ministry said Monday afternoon that negotiators were indeed preparing to travel to the U.S. for the meetings. The ministry declined to provide details on the schedule, however.

“Trade had been put to the side by many market participants,” Andrew Tilton, chief Asia-Pacific economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said on Bloomberg Television. “Market pricing assumed there would be some kind of a deal, and no further escalation in tariffs. And meanwhile the growth outlook was actually improving.” Now, “this raises the spectre of a significant hit to growth should these tariffs escalate and should the uncertainty associated with that weigh on investment going forward,” he said.