Your Weekend Reading: Trump Brings Trade War to France

(Bloomberg) --

President Trump took aim at the chairman of the Federal Reserve, USA Inc. and the president of China in a full-bore rant that rocked financial markets. The China-U.S. trade war is back on and escalating. France and Germany are arguing over how to react to the Amazon fires, even before the G7 summit. At least Greenland seems off the table.

What you’ll want to read this weekend

David Koch, one of the billionaire brothers who helped fund and reshape conservative politics, died at age 79.

Twitter and Facebook cracked down on posts from the Chinese government aimed at undermining the Hong Kong protests. Yet Twitter has helped train Chinese officials on how to get their message out abroad.

An update on the 2020 election: Trump could win, but that's far from certain. Biden has the Democratic lead, but it may not last.

Qantas is running tests to see how the human body holds up to a 20-hour direct flight. Meanwhile, the FAA is seeking less experienced pilots to test new software for the troubled Boeing 737 Max.

Retirees are too nervous to spend. That’s good for their heirs, less so for the economy.

What you’ll need to know next week

• Hong Kong braces for its 12th week of protests.
• Italy’s ever-squabbling left has until Tuesday to form a government.
• U.S. eco data show how the trade war has hit business spending.
• Elon Musk attends the World Artificial Intelligence Conference.
• The U.S. Open tennis championship starts Monday in New York.

What you’ll want to see in Bloomberg Graphics

Climate change, deregulation and global trade disputes are perilously straining Brazil’s Amazon. Fires are raging across the country. Deforestation rates reached startling highs in July. An escalating trade dispute with the U.S. could force China to lean even more heavily on Brazil—already its top supplier of soy. And it all comes as Brazil’s far-right populist president, Jair Bolsonaro, has pledged to open up the 2-million-square-mile forest—including in protected indigenous areas—to more farming and mining.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Josh Petri at jpetri4@bloomberg.net, Matthew G Miller

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