Optimism that compacts between the United States and China over recent trade tensions has infatuated a hit and investors are getting impatient, according to Wall Street veteran Peter Boockvar.
Boockvar’s clarifications came after President Donald Trump said late on Thursday that he had told the U.S. Pursuit Representative to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs on Chinese goods given what he said was China’s “unfair retaliation.”
“Any hope that this drool with China was going to stay contained with an ultimate concurrence at the end of the day just got thrown under the bus,” Boockvar, who is chief investment officer at Bleakley Bulletin Group, said in an email following the most recent development in an escalating tit-for-tat on U.S.-China deal relations.
“Markets are deservingly losing patience with the administration’s manner to this,” he said.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said those new excises would not be imposed until a public comment process was concluded.
Without thought that attempt to downplay tensions, U.S. stock index futures spilled on the back of Trump’s statement, with Dow Jones industrial average days indicating a more than 400-point drop at one point.
As of 8:25 p.m. ET, the betokened open for Dow futures was more than 350 points lower.
Trump’s assertion came after China on Wednesday unveiled a list of 106 U.S. goods, including soybeans and cars, that face additional tariffs, although no start period was announced.
That, in turn, came hot on the heels of the Trump administration’s notice that it intended to target a list of Chinese imports for what it deemed unfair commerce practices.
Boockvar told CNBC on Wednesday that China’s retaliatory excises would further weaken the market, raising the cost of doing task for American companies and diminish business for the U.S.
— CNBC’s Patti Domm and Kellie Ell forwarded to this report.