Prensa. Voanews.
U.S. stocks
plunged again Friday over increasing concerns about a trade war between the
United States and China. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 572 points by
the close, shedding 2.3 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 dropped nearly
2.2 percent, while the NASDAQ fell nearly 2.3 percent at the end of trading.
Earlier Friday,
President Donald Trump continued to protest China's trade practices after
threatening China on Thursday with increased tariffs on $100 billion worth of
additional goods.
In a twitter
post Friday, Trump said, "China, which is a great economic power, is
considered a Developing Nation within the World Trade Organization. They
therefore get tremendous perks and advantages, especially over the U.S. Does
anybody think this is fair. We were badly represented. The WTO is unfair to
U.S."
China's commerce
ministry said in a statement Friday that if Washington persisted in what
Beijing described as protectionism, China would "dedicate itself to the
end and at any cost and will definitely fight back firmly." Since the
start of this week, the United States and China have been engaging in a
tit-for-tat trade spat.
Early in the
week, the United States proposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods.
China then said it would impose tariff hikes on $50 billion worth of U.S.
goods, including soybeans and small aircraft. On Thursday, Trump announced he
had instructed the U.S. trade representative to consider whether tariffs on
another $100 billion worth of Chinese goods would be appropriate.
'China created
this problem'
The White House
blamed China on Friday for trade practices it said were illegal and unfair. "China
created this problem, and the president is trying to put pressure on them to
fix this, and take back some of the terrible actions that they've had in the
last several decades," said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee
Sanders during the daily briefing Friday.
Despite Trump's
threats for more sanctions, he has insisted the U.S. is not engaged in a trade
dispute with the Asian nation. U.S. stocks also
were affected this past Monday by Trump's new verbal attack on giant online
retailer Amazon. Since Trump started his criticism of Amazon, the company has
lost more than $37 billion in market value.