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This may be the point at which investors have to start taking President Trump’s trade wars much more seriously.

Fears about trade have at times weighed on stocks since mid-February when the Trump administration announced tariffs on steel and aluminum. But the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index is up nearly 9 percent this year, and much of those gains have come in the past two months, a move that took the stock market to a record high last week.

The trade conflict between the United States and China may be on the verge of a sharp escalation. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Mr. Trump wanted to go ahead soon with tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese products, adding to those already imposed on $50 billion of goods.