CHINA/ECONOMY/TARIFFS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “China may turn its currency into a weapon. It has already stopped buying American crops. Its mining industry stands ready to hold back minerals that are crucial to making iPhones and missiles, and its policymakers are openly discussing doing without American trade. Nearing the end of a tumultuous week that left stock markets reeling, Beijing began to show how it would fight back against President Trump’s threats to impose new tariffs on virtually everything China ships to the United States. The options extend beyond taxing American goods, and could shake global supply chains and the world financial system. Aside from a halt to agricultural purchases from the United States, other alternatives, like restricting exports of raw materials essential to advanced technology, remain threats. The two sides could still reach a truce of some sort before next month, when, Mr. Trump said, tariffs of 10 percent on an additional $300 billion a year in Chinese imports would take effect.”
–Alexandra Stevenson, “‘Weaponized’ Currency and Mining Limits: China’s Responses to Trump Take Shape,” The New York Times online, August 8, 2019