Asian stocks mixed as investors await US tariff hike

BEIJING — Asian stocks were mixed Tuesday after Wall Street's gains as investors waited for a new U.S. tariff hike in a trade battle with China.

KEEPING SCORE: The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3 percent to 2,661.33, while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 added 1 percent to 22,595.52. Hong Kong's Hang Seng retreated 0.3 percent to 26,538.58 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 advanced 0.5 percent to 6,171.00. Seoul's Kospi shed 0.3 percent to 2,281.90, while New Zealand. Benchmarks in Taiwan and Southeast Asia declined.

WALL STREET: U.S. stocks broke a four-day losing streak as industrial companies and retailers rose. Technology companies recovered some of last week's losses. Nike, Home Depot and Walmart all climbed. Microsoft and other technology companies rose, but Apple fell after saying more U.S. tariff hikes could push it to raise prices. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 0.2 percent to 2,877.13. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2 percent to 25,857.07. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.3 percent to 7,924.16.



TRADE TENSIONS: The Trump administration is due to announce a decision shortly on whether to go ahead with 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports in a dispute over Beijing's technology policy. The two sides already have raised duties on $50 billion of each other's goods. Trump said Friday that he was considering extending penalties to extending penalties to nearly all Chinese imports to the United States by raising duties on an additional $267 billion of goods.

ANALYST'S TAKE: "Wall Street balanced the tech gloom against the fresh focus on tax cuts on Monday yielding mixed returns," Jinyi Pan of IG said in a report. "The protracted expectation for more bad news to set in with the looming tariffs remains the most important factor weighing on markets currently."

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude gained 4 cents to $67.58 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 21 cents on Monday to close at $67.54. Brent crude, used to price international oils, advanced 11 cents to $77.48 in London. It rose 54 cents the previous session to $77.37.

CURRENCY: The dollar gained to 111.36 yen from Monday's 111.12 yen. The euro edged down to $1.1590 from $1.1595.

source: philstar.com

US proposes tariffs on $200 billion more in Chinese imports

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is readying tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese imports, ranging from burglar alarms to mackerel, escalating a trade war between the world's two biggest economies.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative proposed 10 percent tariffs Tuesday on a list of 6,031 Chinese product lines.

The office will accept public comments and hold hearings on the plan Aug. 20-23 before reaching a decision after Aug. 31, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

Last Friday, the U.S. imposed 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese products, and Beijing responded by hitting the same amount of U.S. imports.


The administration said the new levies are a response to China's decision to retaliate against the first round of U.S. tariffs.

President Donald Trump has threatened to tax as much as $550 billion in Chinese products — an amount that exceeds America's total imports from China last year.

The United States complains that China uses predatory practices in a push to challenge American technological dominance. Chinese tactics, the administration says, include outright cybertheft and forcing U.S. companies to hand over technology in exchange for access to the Chinese market.

The initial U.S. tariff list focused on Chinese industrial products in an attempt to limit the impact on American consumers. By expanding the list, the administration is beginning to hit products that U.S. households buy, including such things as electric lamps and fish sticks.

"Tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese products amounts to another multibillion-dollar tax on American businesses and families," said Scott Lincicome, a trade lawyer and senior policy analyst for the group Republicans Fighting Tariffs. "Given China's likelihood of retaliation, it's also billions worth of new tariffs on American exporters."

Members of Congress are increasingly questioning Trump's aggressive trade policies, warning that tariffs on imports raise prices for consumers and expose U.S. farmers and manufacturers to retaliation abroad.

"Tonight's announcement appears reckless and is not a targeted approach," Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement. "We cannot turn a blind eye to China's mercantilist trade practices, but this action falls short of a strategy that will give the administration negotiating leverage with China while maintaining the long-term health and prosperity of the American economy."

source: philstar.com