US equities are set to start the week lower, with futures indicating the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq will all struggle to continue last week’s positive momentum. The dollar is also lower.
Trade policy uncertainty is impacting domestic markets with President Trump sending mixed signals – suggesting trade deals could be reached as soon as this week with some countries, while proposing to slap a new tariff on imports of foreign movies.
“We’re negotiating with many countries, but at the end of this, I’ll set my own deals — because I set the deal, they don’t set the deal,” Trump told reporters Sunday. “You keep asking the same question: ‘When will you agree?’ It’s up to me; it’s not up to them.”
One of the most watched battles in the trade war is between the US and China and there were suggestions from the president that talks are underway. Beijing said last week that this was the case. However, Trump said he did not plan to speak directly with President Xi and for now the 145% tariffs on Chinese goods remain.
Strategists have said that trade deals, especially with China, are the key to a sustained rally for Wall Street.
With his trademark ambiguity, Trump signaled that deals with any countries may not mean the end of tariffs: “At a certain point, I’ll be just setting a certain tariff number,” he said. “At some point in the next two weeks or three weeks, I’m going to be setting the deal.”
On foreign movies, which the president now says are a threat to national security, there could be new tariffs incoming. Posting on Truth Social, Trump said “We want movies made in America, again!”
But it’s not yet clear how tariffs might impact the global production nature of many movies, such as overseas filming locations and post production facilities.
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