Finance

Paul Tudor Jones says stock market will hit new lows even if Trump cuts China tariffs to 50%

Published

3 weeks ago

May 6, 2025

Business Finance News

Paul Tudor Jones speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2020.

Adam Galica | CNBC

Billionaire hedge-fund manager Paul Tudor Jones said Tuesday stocks are bound to hit new lows even if President Donald Trump tones down his aggressive tariffs on China.

“For me, it’s pretty clear. You have Trump who’s locked in on tariffs. You have the Fed who’s locked in on not cutting rates. That’s not good for the stock market,” Jones said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “We’ll probably go down to new lows, even when Trump dials back China to 50%.”

The widely followed investor’s bearish comments came after Trump’s rollout of the highest levies on imports in generations shocked the world last month, triggering extreme volatility on Wall Street. The S&P 500 suffered a severe sell-off but has since recouped much of the losses, sitting 8% below its all-time high.

Trump has slapped tariffs of 145% on imported Chinese goods this year, prompting China to impose retaliatory levies of 125%. China said last week it is evaluating the possibility of starting trade negotiations with the U.S.

“He’ll dial it back to 50% or 40%, whatever. Even when he does that … it’d be the largest tax increases since the 60s,” Jones said. “So you can kind of take 2%, 3% off growth.”

Jones, the founder and chief investment officer of Tudor Investment, believes stocks haven’t found a bottom as macroeconomic conditions continue to deteriorate. The Fed has held its key overnight lending rate steady since December in a range between 4.25% and 4.5%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said he expects policymakers to “wait for greater clarity” on trade policy ramifications before adjusting any further.

“Unless they got really dovish and really, really cut, you’re probably gonna go to new lows,” Jones said. “And then when we’re new lows, the hard day will start to follow, and it’ll probably create the Fed to move, create Trump to move. And then we’ll get some kind of reality.”

Jones shot to fame after he predicted and profited from the 1987 stock market crash. He is also the chairman of nonprofit Just Capital, which ranks public U.S. companies based on social and environmental metrics.

Finance

U.S.-China talks ‘stalled’ and need Trump and Xi to weigh in, Bessent says

Published

3 hours ago

May 29, 2025

Business Finance News

The U.S. and Chinese flags are seen on the day of a bilateral meeting between the U.S. and China, in Geneva, Switzerland, May 10, 2025.

Keystone/eda/martial Trezzini | Via Reuters

BEIJING — U.S.-China trade talks “are a bit stalled,” requiring the two countries’ leaders to speak directly, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News in an interview Thursday local time.

“I believe that we will be having more talks with them in the next few weeks,” he said, adding that there may be a call between the two countries’ leaders “at some point.”

After a rapid escalation in trade tensions last month, Bessent helped the world’s two largest economies reach a breakthrough agreement in Switzerland on May 12. The countries agreed to roll back recent tariff increases of more than 100% for 90 days, or until mid-August. Diplomatic officials from both sides had a call late last week.

Still, the U.S. has pushed ahead with tech restrictions on Beijing, drawing its ire, while China has yet to significantly ease restrictions on rare earths, contrary to Washington’s expectations.

“I think that given the magnitude of the talks, given the complexity, that this is going to require both leaders to weigh in with each other,” Bessent said. “They have a very good relationship and I am confident that the Chinese will come to the table when President [Donald] Trump makes his [preferences] known.”

Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping last spoke in January, just before the U.S. president was sworn in for his second term. While Trump has in recent weeks said he would like to speak with Xi, analysts expect China to agree to that only if there’s certainty there will be no surprises from the U.S. during the call.

China has maintained communication with the U.S. since the agreement in Switzerland, Chinese Ministry of Commerce Spokesperson He Yongqian told reporters at a regular briefing Thursday.

But regarding chip export controls, she said that “China again urges the U.S. to immediately correct its wrong practices … and together safeguard the consensus reached at high-level talks in Geneva.”

That’s according to a CNBC translation of her Mandarin-language remarks.

When asked whether China would suspend rare earths’ export controls announced in early April, He did not respond directly. Restrictions on items that could be used for both military and civilian use reflect international practice, as well as China’s position of “upholding world peace and regional stability,” she said.

This week, the Trump administration also announced it would start revoking visas for Chinese students.

“The U.S. decision to revoke Chinese student visas is fully unjustified,” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said Thursday, according to an official English transcript. “It uses ideology and national security as pretext.”