Yet to resolve its issues with China, the US turned its attentions back to the EU last night, with Trump’s trade representative Robert Lighthizer announcing a list of goods from the bloc that could be hit by fresh tariffs.
This latest trade war flare-up – one that could see the US target things like ‘Roquefort cheese, grated or powdered’, ‘crabmeat, frozen’ and ‘swordfish steaks’ – stems from the rivalry between Airbus (PA:AIR) and Boeing (NYSE:BA), specifically the differing subsidies each receives from their respective governments, the latter grumbling about the former’s EU-aid.
The European markets were actually OK with the threat, getting off to another uninteresting start. The DAX slipped under 11950 as it shed a handful of points, with the CAC similarly muted, dropping 0.1%. The FTSE, meanwhile, was unchanged after the bell, lurking the wrong side of 7450 but keeping close to last week’s 6-month peak.
With Theresa May set for a pair of Brexit pit stops in Paris and Berlin ahead of tomorrow’s hugely important emergency EU summit, the PM set to try and ensure that the UK gets the Article 50 extension it needs (if not deserves), the pound was pretty quiet. Its reticence is likely related to the up in the air-ness of the current situation; the big movements may be saved for Wednesday evening/Thursday morning, when it’ll be clearer whether or not we are leaving the EU on Friday.
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