Stocks on Wall Street fell sharply on Tuesday after President Trump threatened more duties on China if trade talks fall through.
For more on this and other news around the world we turn to our Ro Aram…
Aram… so President Trump is calling himself a "Tariff Man…."
Yes Mark… quite the label…. And it comes amid a 90-day truce in the U.S.-China trade war.
President Trump's tweets had investors concerned on whether that ceasefire will actually take place on the scheduled January 1st.
That agreement froze U.S. tariffs while the two countries negotiate a broader trade deal, but Trump's threat suggests he will proceed with plans to raise tariffs on 250 billion dollars of Chinese goods if talks fail.
President Trump wrote that negotiations with China have already started, saying he hopes for what he called a "Real" deal.
But it seems he wants quicker action from Beijing.
In his tweet, Trump wrote that China was supposed to start buying American "agricultural products and more" immediately.
The U.S. president's threat marks a dramatic shift in tone from when he brokered the truce with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.
His "tariff man" declaration also contradicts assertions made by the White House that Trump preferred a deal to tariffs.
Meanwhile, Beijing's silence on the trade truce has also left investors jittery.
President Trump had hailed the pause as an incredible deal, saying China had promised a number of measures.
However, Beijing's foreign ministry has repeatedly referred related questions to the commerce ministry, which has yet to say anything.
