CHINA/ECONOMY/TARIFFS/TRADE WAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump’s economic advisers do not see a recession on the horizon, but they worry that gloomy news reports and a drumbeat of recession warnings could turn fear of one into reality. In an interview on Thursday [8-29-19], the acting chairman of Mr. Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers, Tomas Philipson, said reporters who had fixated on possible signs of a recession in bond markets this month appeared ‘to want people to lose jobs’ and ‘become not economically self-sufficient’…Mr. Trump’s escalating trade war is the reason economists, traders and the American public are increasingly worried about the possibility of recession. As the president punishes China with higher tariffs — and Beijing retaliates — the fight is exacerbating a global growth slowdown while dragging on investment and business confidence in America.”
–Jim Tankersley and Jeanna Smialek, “Will America Talk Itself Into a Recession? Trump’s Advisers Are Worried,” The New York Times online, August 30, 2019