“It’s one thing to retaliate with $50 billion here and $50 billion there but when the [U.S.] president trots out another $200 billion, that’s quite concerning,” said Max Baucus, a former U.S. ambassador to China under President Barack Obama. “This reminds me little bit of an old western … If there’s a gunfight trade war, somebody’s going to get hurt,” he continued: “Trump is going to have to find some way to back down and let China save face so that both sides can back down gradually and respectfully.”
The market selloff was reflected in the S&P 500 being down 1 percent as materials, industrials and the technology sector all fell more than 1 percent. The Nasdaq composite was also down 1.2 percent.
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