Finance
China to retaliate against nations that work with U.S. to isolate Beijing
BEIJING — China on Monday warned it will retaliate against countries that cooperate with the U.S. in ways that compromise Beijing’s interests, as the trade war between the world’s two largest economies threatens to embroil other nations.
China’s warning comes as U.S. President Donald Trump‘s administration is reportedly planning to use tariff negotiations to pressure U.S. partners to limit their dealings with China. Trump this month paused major tariff increases on other countries for 90 days, while hiking duties further on goods from China to 145%.
“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests. If this happens, China will not accept it and will resolutely take reciprocal countermeasures,” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said, according to a CNBC translation.
The ministry cautioned about the risk to all countries once international trade returns to the “law of the jungle.”
The statement also sought to cast China as willing to work with all parties and “defend international fairness and justice,” while describing the U.S. actions as “abusing tariffs” and “unilateral bullying.”
In a shift toward a harder stance this month, China retaliated against U.S. tariffs with levies of 125% on imports of American goods. Beijing has also restricted critical minerals exports and put several, mostly smaller, U.S. companies on blacklists that restrict their ability to work with Chinese companies.
Analysts don’t expect the U.S. and China to reach a deal anytime soon, although Trump on Thursday said he expected an agreement could be reached in the next three to four weeks.
Chinese President Xi Jinping last week visited Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia in his first overseas trip of 2025. In official Chinese readouts of his meetings with the three countries’ leaders, Xi called for joint efforts to oppose tariffs and “unilateral bullying.”
Since Trump imposed tariffs on China during his first term, the Asian country has increased its trade with Southeast Asia, now China’s largest trading partner on a regional basis. The U.S. remains China’s largest trading partner on a single-country basis.
Last week, China’s Ministry of Commerce replaced its top international trade negotiator with Li Chenggang, who also became a vice minister and has been the country’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization. China has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. with the WTO over Trump’s latest tariff increases.
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Katie Stockton thinks she has a viable option for investors trying to withstand wild market swings.
She manages the Fairlead Tactical Sector ETF (TACK), which is designed to be nimble in times of market stress. It’s not tied to an index.
“What we try to do is help investors leverage the upside through sector rotation, but also minimize drawdowns,” the Fairlead Strategies founder told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “That’s obviously a big advantage longer term when you can just go into a less deep hole to climb out of.”
According to Stockton, her ETF is particularly nimble in this environment because it uses multiple strategies — not just one. Since President Donald Trump announced his “reciprocal” tariffs on April 2, the ETF has fallen just over 4%, while the S&P 500 has lost 6.9%.
Stockton’s ETF rotates monthly between all 11 S&P 500 sectors.
“We don’t own technology anymore,” Stockton said. “Some of the sectors that we like to invest in have fallen out of favor.”
As of April 16, the fund’s top sector holdings included consumer staples, utilities and real estate, according to Fairlead Strategies.
As of Thursday’s close, the Fairlead Tactical Sector ETF is down 4% so far this year.
Meanwhile, ETFs that are centered around specific sectors or strategies are largely under pressure. For example, the Invesco Top QQQ Trust (QBIG), which tracks the top 45% of companies in the Nasdaq-100 index, is down 22% in 2025.
The GraniteShares YieldBoost TSLA ETF (TSYY) is off 48% since the beginning of the year.
BTIG’s Troy Donohue, the firm’s head of Americas portfolio trading, thinks Stockton’s ETF employs a sound strategy – particularly during the recent “dramatic pullback.”
“TACK is a great example of how you can be nimble during these market times,” Donohue said. “It’s great to see it in an ETF product that has performed really well during this recent drawdown.”
Sign at the entrance to a Capital One bank branch in Manhattan.
Erik Mcgregor | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Capital One Financial‘s application to acquire Discover Financial Services in a $35.3 billion all-stock deal has officially been approved by the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the regulators announced on Friday.
“The Board evaluated the application under the statutory factors it is required to consider, including the financial and managerial resources of the companies, the convenience and needs of the communities to be served by the combined organization, and the competitive and financial stability impacts of the proposal,” the Fed said in a release.
Capital One first announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Discover in February 2024. It will also indirectly acquire Discover Bank through the transaction.
Under the agreement, Discover shareholders will receive 1.0192 Capital One shares for each Discover share or about a 26% premium from Discover’s closing price of $110.49 at the time, Capital One said in a release.
Capital One and Discover are among the largest credit card issuers in the U.S., and the merger will expand Capital One’s deposit base and its credit card offerings.
After the deal closes, Capital One shareholders will hold 60% of the combined company, while Discover shareholders own 40%, according to the February 2024 release.
In a joint statement, Capital One and Discover said they expect to close the deal on May 18.
WATCH: Jamie Dimon on Capital One’s $35.3 billion Discover acquisition: ‘Let them compete’
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