The threat of a massive trade war with China made by United States President Donald Trump led to a dive by the Dow Jones industrial average and other key stock market averages.
However, Trump’s scare tactics appear to be directed somewhere else other than Beijing: Capitol Hill.
Would you like to know why? Here’s the reason: after taking his intimidation strategy to the next level by threatening to implement tariffs on $200 billion of imports from China on Monday, Trump is still going to meet with Republican senators to ask them to agree to the plan to rescue ZTE, the beleaguered Chinese communications company that had been hounded out of business by sanctions slapped on the by the United States.
It serves to reason that if the US President really intended to start a trade war, why would he act as a knight in shining armor for ZTE and its 70,000 workers?
As we’ve all come to realize, Trump is a prime dealmaker and nobody wants to bear witness to a freefalling Dow Jones and Nasdaq composite. What happens on Tuesday could quite possibly influence Republican senators to hand Trump the power he wants and needs to broker a trade pact with the Asian powerhouse.
It may seem like Trump is a playing some sort of high stakes poker game but he truly is a deal maker of the highest order, well versed in threatening with one hand and patting the back with the other.
While the market action indicated a downward trend, the Dow Jones finished lower while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq cut losses and a lot of stocks appear to be showing that they are resisting any kind of downtrend.