Global stocks sank Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said he was not satisfied with talks that are aimed at averting a trade war with China. Equities were also dented by poor eurozone economic data, and as Trump cast doubt on a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Trump (is) continuing to drive uncertainty over global trade,” said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG. “European markets are following their Asian counterparts lower, as a pessimistic tone from Trump is compounded by downbeat economic data,” he added. Markets had surged Monday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said they had agreed to pull back from imposing threatened tariffs on billions of dollars of goods, and continue talks on a variety of trade issues. However, Trump has declared that he was “not satisfied” with the status of the talks, fuelling worries that the world’s top two economies could still slug out an economically pain
China warned the United States on Friday that it was “not afraid of a trade war” as it threatened tariffs on $3 billion worth of US goods in retaliation over President Donald Trump’s moves against Chinese imports. Beijing unveiled a hit list of products that could face duties of up to 25 percent, from fresh fruit to pork and wine, though it stopped short of pulling the trigger as it indicated its readiness to negotiate an agreement. The latest trade action sent stocks diving as fears rise that the US, which accuses China of mass theft of intellectual property and other unfair practises, could provoke a damaging trade war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 700 points, while Tokyo closed 4.5 percent lower, Hong Kong fell 2.45 percent and Shanghai sank more than three percent. “China does not want to fight a trade war, but it is absolutely not afraid of a trade war,” the commerce ministry said. Hours earlier, Trump signed an order that also could resu