BUSINESS/ECONOMY/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s disruptive trade policies are the biggest threat to an otherwise healthy U.S. economy, business leaders said Wednesday [6-12-19]. ‘It’s just raising the risk of a bad outcome,’ Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase and chairman of the Business Roundtable, told reporters at a briefing to discuss the group’s latest quarterly survey of top corporate executives. The survey’s results showed increased anxiety about Trump’s handling of trade policy. The survey was conducted from May 16 to June 3, shortly after talks with China on a trade deal collapsed and Trump began taking steps to raise duties on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent. He also has threatened to hit another $300 billion worth of Chinese goods with a 25 percent duty later this summer. Trump reached a deal with Canada and Mexico last month to lift duties on their steel and aluminum imports, easing North American trade tension. But he almost immediately began threatening Mexico with new tariffs over migrants crossing the border. Trump dropped his tariff threat last week after the two sides reached a deal.”
–Doug Palmer, “Business leaders say Trump trade policies ‘scariest’ risk to growth,” Politico, June 12, 2019 4:26 pm