The U.S.-China trade war has now officially entered a new phase, and neither side is showing any sign of backing down. The Trump administration followed through on hiking tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 to 25 percent last week. As U.S. markets were about to open on Monday morning (and after markets were closed in Asia), China announced a retaliatory step – an increase in tariffs on $60 billion of American goods to 25 percent beginning on June 1. Trump is also laying the groundwork for more tariffs on an additional $325 billion of imports, which would then cover just about everything coming from China. That tranche of tariffs would be a further escalation, and would impact consumers more broadly, although such a measure could be months away. The Dow plunged on Monday morning in response to the news. “Over the past week, hopes for […]