US-China trade meltdown fears
Medical conditions STOCK markets around the world have crashed after the arrest of a Chinese finance chief threatens meltdown in the US-China trade war.
Meng Wanzhou, 46, chief financial officer of telecom giant Huawei, was held in Canada and faces extradition to the US on suspicion of trying to evade sanctions against Iran.
Saturday’s arrest, made on the same day Donald Trump and President Xi sat down to find a way out of the tariff war menacing the global economy, is being viewed in Beijing as politically motivated.
Nationalist media accused the US of “despicable hooliganism” and the government demanded Meng’s immediate release.
The daughter of Huawei’s founder was held on a US warrant as she changed planes in Vancouver. The aftermath sent tremors around the financial world.
At one point yesterday our FTSE 100 share index had plunged 173 points to 6,748.58, its lowest for two years. Germany’s DAX fell 2.88%, France’s CAC 2.7% and in the US the Dow dived 400 points.
The US has imposed tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods since July and has threatened more hikes.
Trump hopes they will stop what he sees as China’s theft of US know-how.
China has retaliated with duties on US goods. Saturday’s G20 meeting in Argentina raised hopes of a truce but these might now be dashed.
Connor Campbell, of SpreadEx, said: “It is another huge blow to what already looked a fragile ceasefire and has seen markets in a funk.”
Mihir Kapadia, of Sun Global Investments, said it emphasised the “vulnerability of markets to any issues, particularly political ones, involving the world’s two largest economies”.
Meng, in court today for a bail hearing, worked her way up from a secretarial job at Huawei and is seen as the successor to founder Ren Zhengfei.