By: DailyForex
China may have escalated the impending trade war on Monday by publicly placing the blame on Washington and claiming that it’s impossible to negotiate with things as they are. Speaking at a press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Gen Shuang told reporters that “under the current circumstances, both sides even more cannot have talks on these issues.” He added that “The United States with one hand wields the threat of sanctions, and at the same time says they are willing to talk. I’m not sure who the United States is putting on this act for.”
Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Qian Keming fanned the flames further by commenting that though China doesn’t want a trade war, it is not afraid of one. As reported by Reuters, China’s state planning agency doesn’t expect much impact from a trade war and it expects that the country’s thriving domestic market can compensate for a decrease in exports. Wang Changlin, a researcher at the National Development and Reform Commission has claimed that China can still hit its 2018 GDP growth target of approximately 6.5 percent even if the trade war continues or escalates.
With no news due out on Monday, traders are keeping a close eye on the trade war and anxiously awaiting Washington’s response to China’s latest comments. Despite the escalating tensions, Wall Street looks poised for a bounce on the open after falling last week on weak jobs data which showed the creation of only 103,000 jobs in March, well below expectations. As of 5:30 a.m. EST, Dow futures hinted towards a bounce of approximately 240 points on the open. After a solid trading day, all Asian indexes closed higher on Monday.