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It Was the Week Trade Wars Went From Uncomfortable to Scary

It’s been a week of trade pain that changes a lot about the global economic outlook.

It Was the Week Trade Wars Went From Uncomfortable to Scary
Attendees cheer outside the venue prior to a rally with U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photographer: Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) --

It’s been a week of trade pain that changes a lot about the global economic outlook.

President Donald Trump’s threat Thursday to put 10% tariffs on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese imports that aren’t subject to his existing levies sent markets tumbling from Asia to Europe and in the U.S. on Friday. The new tax would hit American consumers, and businesses are going to face even more supply disruptions. China has already vowed to retaliate if Trump follows through.

Bloomberg Economics’ initial estimate of the additional costs of U.S. tariffs and Chinese retaliation sees both economies taking a 0.2% hit to GDP by 2021.

Meanwhile, a simmering trade fight between Japan and South Korea is boiling over, putting the health of two Asian export powers at stake. In Europe, concerns are mounting for a hard U.K. exit from the European Union.

The week ended with fresh numbers out of Washington that show U.S. trade actually declined during the first six months of the year as exports flattened out.

It Was the Week Trade Wars Went From Uncomfortable to Scary

Here are the big developments since Trump made his announcement, click on the links to read more:

To contact the reporter on this story: Brendan Murray in London at brmurray@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Kennedy at skennedy4@bloomberg.net, ;Zoe Schneeweiss at zschneeweiss@bloomberg.net, Brian Wingfield, Sara Marley

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