The ongoing trade dispute between the United States and China might not get resolved as soon as it was being predicted. On Tuesday, Donald Trump said that a trade agreement with China could wait until the 2020 US election in November.
Trump's comments immediately had an impact on the bourses with stocks taking a massive hit as investors' confidence once again got dented.
Trump's fresh hint at a possible delay in a trade agreement between Washington and China is will once again be taking a toll on markets, with some major sectors like tech, automobiles and retail likely to continue suffering.
Trump's threats continue
Negotiators from either side have been initiating talks for some time in a bid to resolve the trade disputes in phases between the world's two biggest economies.
However, Trump on Tuesday played a spoilsport, saying, "In some ways, I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal, but they want to make a deal now and we will see whether or not the deal is going to be right. Trump told this to reporters in London, where he is attending the NATO summit.
When asked if he has set a deadline for the deal, Trump said, "I have no deadline, no."
Trump's comments come a day after he said that he would hit Brazil and Argentina with huge tariffs for "massive devaluation of their currencies."
He also threatened France of imposing duties of up to 100% on goods like champagne and handbags, owing to a digital services tax that Trump feels harms U.S. tech companies.
However, it wasn't clear if Trump was talking about the complete trade deal or the phase one agreement that many were expecting to come to effect soon.
Markets continue to suffer
The United States and China have been at loggerheads with both countries having imposed billions of dollars of tariffs and counter tariffs since the beginning of 2018.
This has been taking a toll on stocks with investors' sentiments completely getting dented over the past few months. Although efforts have been over the last few quarters to strike a deal, the trade disputes haven't been resolved.
The next deadline for tariffs is December 15 but if China and the U.S. don't manage to reach an agreement, additional tariffs on Chinese goods will go into effect. This will once again hit the tech companies given that the targeted goods in this phase are smartphones and Made-in-China laptops.
