Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs against China

US equity futures tanked after President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs against China as retaliation over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak. While most of the global markets including Germany, Italy, Spain, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia are closed for Labor Day holiday.

“We signed a trade deal where they’re supposed to buy, and they’ve been buying a lot, actually. But that now becomes secondary to what took place with the virus,” Trump told reporters. “The virus situation is just not acceptable.”

President Donald Trump claimed Thursday he has seen evidence the COVID-19 virus originated in the Wuhan institute of virology in china. The virus already cost 61,000 lives in the United States alone, sparked an economic contraction and threatened his chances of re-election in November.