Trade Deal Dead: Trump Says 10% China Tariff Rising To 25% On Friday, Another $325BN In Goods To Be Taxed

So much for months and months of constant leaks, headlines, tweets, and press reports that US-China trade talks are going great amid an ocean of "optimism" (meant solely to sucker in amateurs into the most obvious bull head fake since 1987). 

Just after noon on Sunday, President Trump tweeted that 10% tariffs paid by China on $200 billion in goods will rise to 25% on Friday, and that - contrary to what he himself and his chief economist, Larry Kudlow, have said for months, talks on a trade deal have been going too slowly.

And, just to underscore his point, Trump also threatened to impose 25% tariffs on an additional $325 billion of Chinese goods “shortly.”

For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA of 25% on 50 Billion Dollars of High Tech, and 10% on 200 Billion Dollars of other goods. These payments are partially responsible for our great economic results. The 10% will go up to 25% on Friday. 325 Billions Dollars....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2019

With the tariff rate on numerous goods originally set at 10% and set to more than double in 2019, Trump postponed that decision after China and the US agreed to sit down for trade talks; following Trump's tweet it is now confirmed that trade talks have hit an impasse and that escalation will be needed to break the stalemate.

It was as recent as Friday that Vice President Mike Pence told CNBC that Trump remained hopeful that he could strike a deal with China (at the same time as he was urging for a rate cut from the Fed).

Curiously, on Wednesday, the White House - clearly hoping to sucker in even more naive bulls to buy stocks at all time highs - said the latest round of talks had moved Beijing and Washington closer to an agreement. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said, “Discussions remain focused toward making substantial progress on important structural issues and re-balancing the US-China trade relationship.”

In recent weeks there were multiple reports that China and U.S. were close to a trade deal, and an agreement could come as soon as Friday. Major sticking points the U.S. and China have been intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers. There has also been disagreement as to whether tariffs be removed or remain in place as an enforcement mechanism.

While it was not clear why Trump has decided to escalate his tariff policy, the most obvious explanation is that for a White House, which has been obsessed with pushing the S&P to record levels, this was the last lever it had at its disposal. And now that the S&P is back at all time highs, the lies can end, if only for the time being.