Donald Trump to pull tariff trigger at midnight in trade-war escalation

As the deadline approached with little sign of a last-minute deal, US stocks pared gains

President Donald Trump is preparing to slap tariffs on Chinese goods early Friday, the first shot in a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.

Tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese goods are scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. in Washington, the U.S. Trade Representative confirmed in an email Thursday. The milestone marks a new and damaging phase in a conflict that has roiled markets and cast a shadow over the global growth outlook.

In Beijing, policy makers are digging in for what could be a protracted fight — one in which they say they won’t be the aggressor. Beijing