Thursday Morning Briefing: China warns U.S. of 'opening fire' on tariffs

Highlights

The United States is “opening fire” on the world with its threatened tariffs, China warned today, saying no one wants a trade war but it will respond the instant U.S. measures go into effect as Beijing ramped up the rhetoric in the heated dispute.

A model by economists at Pictet Asset Management in London reckons a 10 percent tariff on U.S. trade fully passed on to the consumer could tip the global economy into a state of stagflation and knock 2 and a half percent off corporate earnings.

U.S. President Donald Trump again accused the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries of driving gasoline prices higher and urged the oil producer group to do more. Trump has been complaining about OPEC at the same time that Washington is piling pressure on its European allies to stop buying Iranian oil.

Iran could reduce its co-operation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, President Hassan Rouhani told the body’s head, after he warned Trump of “consequences” of fresh sanctions against Iranian oil sales.

britain

When Trump visits Britain next week, Prime Minister Theresa May will have to face a harsh reality: Brexit makes Britain more dependent than ever on an alliance with the most unpredictable U.S. president in living memory.

 

Across the Pond: How many days have different UK and U.S. leaders spent in the U.S. and UK? A Reuters graphic looks at the numbers: https://tmsnrt.rs/2No3omh

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Britain’s so-called ‘special relationship’ with the United States was one of the most enduring alliances of the 20th Century, though Brexit and Trump have raised questions about its future. Read our Factbox on how the United States and Britain compare on key measures.

Britain called on Russia to give details about the Novichok nerve agent attack on a former double agent and his daughter after two British citizens were struck down with the same poison.

Sponsored by Barclays: Job security in the robot economy As machine learning and AI become more commercially viable, will humans be replaced in the workplace? We don’t think so. Find out why.

 

Two @Reuters journalists have been detained in Myanmar for 206 days. See full coverage: https://reut.rs/2tWkD5X

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Son searches the Sahara for his kidnapped mother

 

How do you teach a child to swim, and scuba dive, in a dark cave? That’s what rescue teams in Thailand are trying to figure out as they weigh their options for bringing the junior soccer team to safety: https://reut.rs/2tWGzOw

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