Trump Jr. mocks woman accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault on Instagram
Posted about 24 hours ago by Louis Staples in news
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President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, has waded into the argument surrounding the confirmation of Brett Kanavaugh into the US Supreme Court.
Trump Jr. mocked Democrats for their reaction to sexual misconduct accusations made against his father’s nominee.
Posting on Instagram, he said:
Oh boy... the Dems and their usual nonsense games really have him on the ropes now.
[Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)] had the letter in July and saved it for the eve of his vote... honorable as always. I believe this is a copy for full transparency.
He accompanied the post with a picture that appeared to show children’s handwriting that read: “Hi Cindy, will you be my girlfriend".
His post references a letter that was sent anonymously to US senator Dianne Feinstein earlier this year. The letter, which was later revealed to have been sent by California professor Christine Ford, claims that Kavanaugh assaulted her during a party in high school 30 years ago.
Ford alleged that as a high school student in suburban Maryland, just outside of Washington, a "stumbling drunk" Kavanaugh pinned her down, groped her and attempted to remove her clothing.
The allegations have plunged Kavanaugh’s extremely contentious nomination process into yet more uncertainty, with senior politicians and commentators demanding the allegations against him be investigated before senators decide whether he is fit to serve as a Supreme Court judge.
Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley has reportedly requested phone calls with Kavanaugh and his accuser before the confirmation vote.
Since he was announced as Trump’s nominee, pro-choice advocates have voiced concern that Kavanaugh will move to overturn Roe v Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling issued in 1973 that legalised abortion across the US.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Alibaba’s Jack Ma warns trade war could last 20 years - Financial Times
Alibaba’s Jack Ma warns trade war could last 20 years
‘It’s going to be a mess,’ says Chinese tech group’s executive chairman
© Reuters
Louise Lucas in Hong Kong - published on Sept. 18, 2018.
The trade war between the US and China could last for 20 years, Jack Ma, executive chairman of technology group Alibaba and China’s richest man, warned on Tuesday.
Speaking after China vowed to retaliate against US plans to impose tariffs on about $200bn of Chinese imports, Mr Ma said of the dispute: “It’s going to last a long time, maybe 20 years. It’s going to be a mess. It’s not a trade war, it’s about competition between two countries.”
However, while Mr Ma acknowledged the impact of the US-China trade war, which no one could win and which would affect both countries as well as his company, remained gung-ho about his legacy. “I don’t worry about Alibaba. If Alibaba cannot grow, no company in China can grow,” he said.
Mr Ma, who earlier this month announced his plans to step down from the company he founded 19 years ago, outlined a strategy of globalisation, expanding in rural China and the internet of things.
“Next year I won’t be able to speak to you as chairman,” he told the 600-plus audience at the event, held at Alibaba’s Hangzhou campus. “I will sit there as an investor and listen to the team speak.”
Mr Ma, who will hand over the chairmanship to Daniel Zhang, chief executive, next September, also sought to dispel some of the stories doing the rounds about his departure.
“People call me these days. I have government officials call me, [saying] ‘Are you crazy? What will happen?’ Rumours outside China [ask is it] because the government want to push you out? Ha, nobody can [push me out],” he said.
“People have a lot of guesses. But for me I know this has been 10 years in preparation.”
Unlike last year’s investor day, where Alibaba forecast annual revenue growth guidance that exceeded analysts’ estimates by 10 percentage points, there were no fresh forecasts.
Instead, executives reiterated some earlier targets, including passing $1tn in gross merchandise volume — the total amount of goods sold across its commerce platforms — compared with $768bn last year.
Alibaba, which has its roots in ecommerce but has since branched out into cloud services, digital entertainment and food delivery, also put a price on its investment portfolio, valuing it at $80bn.
Joe Tsai, executive chairman, said most of the funding had gone into international expansion in the past three years, as well as on digital media and entertainment. In the first quarter of this year the focus was on new retail, and the group also ploughed more funds — along with SoftBank of Japan — into Ele.me, its food delivery and local services business.
“I’m looking at venture capital-like returns except our success rate is greater, because we have people to make sure they work,” Mr Tsai said.
Alibaba and arch-rival Tencent can also boost returns on their investments by channelling their users on to other services: shoppers on Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall shopping platforms are also candidates for watching movies, paying for good and services or ordering food deliveries.
Investments have broadly tracked free cash flow generation over the past three years, he told the audience, adding: “A lot of you will be angry if we under-invest. We are not a dividend-paying company.”
Of the cumulative $33.8bn free cash flow since fiscal year 2016, about $30bn has been invested leaving “a little cushion to make more investments in the future”.
Diver Who Helped With Thai Cave Rescue Sues Elon Musk for Calling Him a ‘Pedo’ - TIME
Diver Who Helped With Thai Cave Rescue Sues Elon Musk for Calling Him a ‘Pedo’
Posted: 17 Sep 2018 11:15 AM PDT
A British diver who helped rescue youth soccer players trapped in a cave in Thailand is suing Elon Musk, alleging that the Tesla CEO falsely accused him of being a pedophile.
Diver Vernon Unsworth, who lives north of London, contends that Musk made the false allegation on Twitter and then repeated multiple other falsehoods after the dramatic rescue of a dozen youth soccer players and their coach in July.
The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court Monday seeks more than $75,000 in damages and a court order stopping Musk from making further allegations. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk called Unsworth a “pedo” in a tweet to his 22.5 million followers after Unsworth criticized Musk in a July 13 television interview with CNN about the rescue.
Musk and engineers from his rocket company, SpaceX, built a small submarine and shipped it to Thailand to help with the rescue. The device wasn’t used and in the interview, Unsworth called it a “PR stunt” and said it wouldn’t have worked to free the boys who were trapped in the flooded cave. He also said Musk “can stick his submarine somewhere where it hurts.”
The lawsuit alleges that Musk, apparently angered by Unsworth’s remarks, began a campaign to destroy his reputation “by publishing false and heinous accusations of criminality against him to the public.”
In a series of tweets July 15, Musk, who personally delivered the submarine to the cave, wrote that he never saw Unsworth and challenged him to show a video of the final rescue. “Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it,” Musk tweeted. Later on Twitter, Musk wrote “Bet ya a signed dollar it’s true.”
Later Musk deleted the tweets and apologized after being criticized by shareholders, the lawsuit alleged, stating in a tweet that his words were “spoken in anger” and that the sub was built out of kindness according to specifications from the dive team leader.
But on Aug. 28, Musk tweeted about Unsworth once again, writing: “You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me? He was offered free legal services.” The lawsuit states that with the tweet, Musk sought to tell the average reader that Unsworth’s failure to sue at the time was evidence that Unsworth is a pedophile.
Two days after the Aug. 28 tweet, Musk emailed a BuzzFeed News reporter, suggesting that the reporter investigate Unsworth and “stop defending child rapists,” according to the lawsuit, which is 65 pages with exhibits.
“He’s an old, single white guy from England who’s been traveling or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years,” Musk wrote, adding that Unsworth moved in Thailand “for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time,” according to the lawsuit.
Then in a second email to BuzzFeed, Musk accused Unsworth of being a liar and said he wasn’t on the cave dive team.
“Mr. Unsworth is not a pedophile. Mr. Unsworth has never engaged in an act of pedophilia. Mr. Unsworth is not a child rapist,” the lawsuit stated, adding that Unsworth has never been married to a minor.
Unsworth has a “significant other” in Thailand, a 40-year-old woman with whom he shares a house, according to the lawsuit. He first started going to Thailand in 2011, where he explored and mapped caves, the documents stated.
The lawsuit explains Unsworth’s role in the rescue, saying that on June 23, when the soccer players became trapped, several Thai officials called and asked him to go to the cave as soon as possible. He was the first foreign rescuer to arrive.
He recommended that the Thai government seek help from divers in the United Kingdom, and Unsworth called friend and fellow diver Rob Harper. Harper, who had just returned from exploring Thai caves with Unsworth, brought two other divers, John Volanthen and Rick Stanton, to help with the rescue.
The boys, ages 11-16, were found July 2 by Volanthen and Stanton, according to the lawsuit.
The last soccer player was rescued July 8. “Together with Mr. Unsworth, Mr. Harper, Mr. Volanthen, and Mr. Stanton put together the dive portion of the rescue plan that ultimately saved the boys,” the lawsuit stated. It concedes that Unsworth was not involved in the final planning stages of the rescue because he didn’t have enough experience to make the dive.
The lawsuit was filed by lawyers led by L. Lin Wood, an Atlanta attorney who has represented plaintiffs in several high-profile libel cases including the family of homicide victim JonBenet Ramsey and security guard Richard Jewel, who was accused in media reports of being a suspect in a 1996 bombing during the Olympics in Atlanta, a crime committed by anti-government extremist Eric Rudolph. The documents said a separate lawsuit would be filed in England.
Unsworth will not do interviews, Wood said, but the attorney said in a statement that Musk’s wealth “cannot convert his lies into truth or protect him from accountability for his wrongdoing in a court of law.”
Unsworth’s British lawyer, Mark Stephens, said that “Twibels (Twitter libels) show that falsehoods by the rich and powerful can circulate round the globe to their 22.5 million followers and to the media before the truth can pull its boots on.”
“The truth has now got its boots on and Elon Musk is being brought to account for repeatedly attacking and taunting the good name of an ordinary spelunker: Vernon Unsworth who answered the call and (with others) put his life on the line to help rescue the 13 trapped in the caves in Thailand,” he said.
Stephens did not say when Unsworth planned to file a claim in the British courts.
___
Krisher reported from Detroit. Jill Lawless contributed to this report from London.
Posted: 17 Sep 2018 11:15 AM PDT
A British diver who helped rescue youth soccer players trapped in a cave in Thailand is suing Elon Musk, alleging that the Tesla CEO falsely accused him of being a pedophile.
Diver Vernon Unsworth, who lives north of London, contends that Musk made the false allegation on Twitter and then repeated multiple other falsehoods after the dramatic rescue of a dozen youth soccer players and their coach in July.
The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court Monday seeks more than $75,000 in damages and a court order stopping Musk from making further allegations. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk called Unsworth a “pedo” in a tweet to his 22.5 million followers after Unsworth criticized Musk in a July 13 television interview with CNN about the rescue.
Musk and engineers from his rocket company, SpaceX, built a small submarine and shipped it to Thailand to help with the rescue. The device wasn’t used and in the interview, Unsworth called it a “PR stunt” and said it wouldn’t have worked to free the boys who were trapped in the flooded cave. He also said Musk “can stick his submarine somewhere where it hurts.”
The lawsuit alleges that Musk, apparently angered by Unsworth’s remarks, began a campaign to destroy his reputation “by publishing false and heinous accusations of criminality against him to the public.”
In a series of tweets July 15, Musk, who personally delivered the submarine to the cave, wrote that he never saw Unsworth and challenged him to show a video of the final rescue. “Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it,” Musk tweeted. Later on Twitter, Musk wrote “Bet ya a signed dollar it’s true.”
Later Musk deleted the tweets and apologized after being criticized by shareholders, the lawsuit alleged, stating in a tweet that his words were “spoken in anger” and that the sub was built out of kindness according to specifications from the dive team leader.
But on Aug. 28, Musk tweeted about Unsworth once again, writing: “You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me? He was offered free legal services.” The lawsuit states that with the tweet, Musk sought to tell the average reader that Unsworth’s failure to sue at the time was evidence that Unsworth is a pedophile.
Two days after the Aug. 28 tweet, Musk emailed a BuzzFeed News reporter, suggesting that the reporter investigate Unsworth and “stop defending child rapists,” according to the lawsuit, which is 65 pages with exhibits.
“He’s an old, single white guy from England who’s been traveling or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years,” Musk wrote, adding that Unsworth moved in Thailand “for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time,” according to the lawsuit.
Then in a second email to BuzzFeed, Musk accused Unsworth of being a liar and said he wasn’t on the cave dive team.
“Mr. Unsworth is not a pedophile. Mr. Unsworth has never engaged in an act of pedophilia. Mr. Unsworth is not a child rapist,” the lawsuit stated, adding that Unsworth has never been married to a minor.
Unsworth has a “significant other” in Thailand, a 40-year-old woman with whom he shares a house, according to the lawsuit. He first started going to Thailand in 2011, where he explored and mapped caves, the documents stated.
The lawsuit explains Unsworth’s role in the rescue, saying that on June 23, when the soccer players became trapped, several Thai officials called and asked him to go to the cave as soon as possible. He was the first foreign rescuer to arrive.
He recommended that the Thai government seek help from divers in the United Kingdom, and Unsworth called friend and fellow diver Rob Harper. Harper, who had just returned from exploring Thai caves with Unsworth, brought two other divers, John Volanthen and Rick Stanton, to help with the rescue.
The boys, ages 11-16, were found July 2 by Volanthen and Stanton, according to the lawsuit.
The last soccer player was rescued July 8. “Together with Mr. Unsworth, Mr. Harper, Mr. Volanthen, and Mr. Stanton put together the dive portion of the rescue plan that ultimately saved the boys,” the lawsuit stated. It concedes that Unsworth was not involved in the final planning stages of the rescue because he didn’t have enough experience to make the dive.
The lawsuit was filed by lawyers led by L. Lin Wood, an Atlanta attorney who has represented plaintiffs in several high-profile libel cases including the family of homicide victim JonBenet Ramsey and security guard Richard Jewel, who was accused in media reports of being a suspect in a 1996 bombing during the Olympics in Atlanta, a crime committed by anti-government extremist Eric Rudolph. The documents said a separate lawsuit would be filed in England.
Unsworth will not do interviews, Wood said, but the attorney said in a statement that Musk’s wealth “cannot convert his lies into truth or protect him from accountability for his wrongdoing in a court of law.”
Unsworth’s British lawyer, Mark Stephens, said that “Twibels (Twitter libels) show that falsehoods by the rich and powerful can circulate round the globe to their 22.5 million followers and to the media before the truth can pull its boots on.”
“The truth has now got its boots on and Elon Musk is being brought to account for repeatedly attacking and taunting the good name of an ordinary spelunker: Vernon Unsworth who answered the call and (with others) put his life on the line to help rescue the 13 trapped in the caves in Thailand,” he said.
Stephens did not say when Unsworth planned to file a claim in the British courts.
___
Krisher reported from Detroit. Jill Lawless contributed to this report from London.
Meet the Japanese Billionaire Who’s Paying Elon Musk for a Trip Around the Moon - TIME
Meet the Japanese Billionaire Who’s Paying Elon Musk for a Trip Around the Moon
Posted: 18 Sep 2018 05:28 AM PDT
Elon Musk’s SpaceX introduced the world to the company’s first space tourist Monday night, announcing that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is set to embark on a voyage around the moon.
“Finally, I can tell you that I choose to go to the moon!” said Maezawa at a press conference at the aerospace company’s headquarters on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
Maezawa’s journey will not take place until at least 2023 on a yet-to-be-built rocket. The mission could be delayed for a number of reasons, including production delays and more.
Here’s what to know about Yusaku Maezawa.
Who is Yusaku Maezawa?
Maezawa, 42, lives in Chiba, a city 25 miles southeast of Tokyo. He was a billionaire by his mid-30s, making his fortune in online retailing. He started Japanese e-commerce giant Start Today in 1998 and popular fashion marketplace Zozotown in 2004.
He is the 18th richest man in Japan, according to Forbes, with a personal wealth of $2.9 billion.
An enthusiastic art collector, he is known for dramatic splurges. In 2016, he dropped almost $100 million during a spending spree at two art auctions in New York. His most expensive known purchase is a large work by Jean-Michel Basquiat valued at $110.5 million.
Another serious shot w @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/e11lyfjfFN
— Yusaku Maezawa 前澤友作 (@yousuck2020) September 18, 2018
What will Maezawa do on the trip?
Maezawa isn’t going to the moon alone. He plans to invite between six and eight artists to join him on the trip as part of a project called Dear Moon, which he launched online shortly after his trip was announced.
“These artists will be asked to create something after they return to Earth, and these masterpieces will inspire the dreamer within all of us,” he said at the press conference. He said he wanted the artists “to see the moon up close, and the earth in full view, and create work to reflect their experience.”
How much did Maezawa may SpaceX for the trip?
We don’t know for sure. Maezawa has not revealed the price of his trip, but Musk said it was “a lot of money.” The trip will be free for the artists he invites along, Maezawa added.
What does Maezawa’s booking mean for SpaceX?
It’s a big boost for SpaceX and its CEO, Elon Musk. SpaceX is still working to built the 387-foot Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) it plans to use for its moon flight. Musk said Maezawa’s payment is big enough to “have a material effect on paying for cost and development of BFR,” which could cost as much as $5 billion overall.
The moon hasn’t seen any human visitors since 1972 and NASA’s last Apollo mission. But Musk’s ambitions go beyond our lunar satellite — the BFR, he hopes, will eventually help get human visitors to Mars, too. Musk believes it’s important for humanity to become a multi-planetary species, and space tourism could help fund that lofty vision.
The announcement is also a bit of good news for Musk, who has been criticized lately for the struggles at his other major company, electric automaker Tesla, and is being sued by a cave diver who Musk alleged without proof is a pedophile.
Posted: 18 Sep 2018 05:28 AM PDT
Elon Musk’s SpaceX introduced the world to the company’s first space tourist Monday night, announcing that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is set to embark on a voyage around the moon.
“Finally, I can tell you that I choose to go to the moon!” said Maezawa at a press conference at the aerospace company’s headquarters on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
Maezawa’s journey will not take place until at least 2023 on a yet-to-be-built rocket. The mission could be delayed for a number of reasons, including production delays and more.
Here’s what to know about Yusaku Maezawa.
Who is Yusaku Maezawa?
Maezawa, 42, lives in Chiba, a city 25 miles southeast of Tokyo. He was a billionaire by his mid-30s, making his fortune in online retailing. He started Japanese e-commerce giant Start Today in 1998 and popular fashion marketplace Zozotown in 2004.
He is the 18th richest man in Japan, according to Forbes, with a personal wealth of $2.9 billion.
An enthusiastic art collector, he is known for dramatic splurges. In 2016, he dropped almost $100 million during a spending spree at two art auctions in New York. His most expensive known purchase is a large work by Jean-Michel Basquiat valued at $110.5 million.
Another serious shot w @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/e11lyfjfFN
— Yusaku Maezawa 前澤友作 (@yousuck2020) September 18, 2018
What will Maezawa do on the trip?
Maezawa isn’t going to the moon alone. He plans to invite between six and eight artists to join him on the trip as part of a project called Dear Moon, which he launched online shortly after his trip was announced.
“These artists will be asked to create something after they return to Earth, and these masterpieces will inspire the dreamer within all of us,” he said at the press conference. He said he wanted the artists “to see the moon up close, and the earth in full view, and create work to reflect their experience.”
How much did Maezawa may SpaceX for the trip?
We don’t know for sure. Maezawa has not revealed the price of his trip, but Musk said it was “a lot of money.” The trip will be free for the artists he invites along, Maezawa added.
What does Maezawa’s booking mean for SpaceX?
It’s a big boost for SpaceX and its CEO, Elon Musk. SpaceX is still working to built the 387-foot Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) it plans to use for its moon flight. Musk said Maezawa’s payment is big enough to “have a material effect on paying for cost and development of BFR,” which could cost as much as $5 billion overall.
The moon hasn’t seen any human visitors since 1972 and NASA’s last Apollo mission. But Musk’s ambitions go beyond our lunar satellite — the BFR, he hopes, will eventually help get human visitors to Mars, too. Musk believes it’s important for humanity to become a multi-planetary species, and space tourism could help fund that lofty vision.
The announcement is also a bit of good news for Musk, who has been criticized lately for the struggles at his other major company, electric automaker Tesla, and is being sued by a cave diver who Musk alleged without proof is a pedophile.
China hits back: It will implement $60 billion in tariffs on the US effective Sept. 24 - CNBC News
China hits back: It will implement $60 billion in tariffs on the US effective Sept. 24
China said it will institute new tariffs on U.S. goods worth $60 billion on Sept. 24, according to a Reuters report.
The media outlet said the Asian country's tariff rate on a list of 5,207 U.S. products will range between 5 percent and 10 percent.
On Monday, the President Donald Trump administration announced it will impose 10 percent tariffs on about $200 billion of imports from China effective Sept. 24.
Tae Kim | @firstadopter
Published on Sept. 18, 2018.
CNBC.com
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends an event commemorating the 200th birth anniversary of the founding father of communism Karl Marx in Beijing, China May 4, 2018.
Jason Lee | Reuters
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends an event commemorating the 200th birth anniversary of the founding father of communism Karl Marx in Beijing, China May 4, 2018.
China said it will institute new tariffs on U.S. goods worth $60 billion on Sept. 24, according to a Reuters report.
The media outlet said the Asian country's tariff rate on a list of 5,207 U.S. products will range between 5 percent and 10 percent.
On Monday, the President Donald Trump administration announced it will impose 10 percent tariffs on about $200 billion of imports from China effective Sept. 24. Trump, in a statement, said that the tariffs would rise to 25 percent on Jan. 1, 2019.
Earlier on Monday, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said Trump has "not been satisfied" with the trade talks with China.
The world's two largest economies have already applied tariffs to $50 billion of each other's goods.
China said it will institute new tariffs on U.S. goods worth $60 billion on Sept. 24, according to a Reuters report.
The media outlet said the Asian country's tariff rate on a list of 5,207 U.S. products will range between 5 percent and 10 percent.
On Monday, the President Donald Trump administration announced it will impose 10 percent tariffs on about $200 billion of imports from China effective Sept. 24.
Tae Kim | @firstadopter
Published on Sept. 18, 2018.
CNBC.com
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends an event commemorating the 200th birth anniversary of the founding father of communism Karl Marx in Beijing, China May 4, 2018.
Jason Lee | Reuters
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends an event commemorating the 200th birth anniversary of the founding father of communism Karl Marx in Beijing, China May 4, 2018.
China said it will institute new tariffs on U.S. goods worth $60 billion on Sept. 24, according to a Reuters report.
The media outlet said the Asian country's tariff rate on a list of 5,207 U.S. products will range between 5 percent and 10 percent.
On Monday, the President Donald Trump administration announced it will impose 10 percent tariffs on about $200 billion of imports from China effective Sept. 24. Trump, in a statement, said that the tariffs would rise to 25 percent on Jan. 1, 2019.
Earlier on Monday, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said Trump has "not been satisfied" with the trade talks with China.
The world's two largest economies have already applied tariffs to $50 billion of each other's goods.
Democrats taking Senate 'would be bigger shock than Trump in 2016' - Guardian
Democrats taking Senate 'would be bigger shock than Trump in 2016'
YouGov pollster plays down talk of a blue wave sweeping away Republican majority: ‘Democrats have to win seven of the nine. I think the odds of that happening are not good’
David Smith in Palo Alto, California
@smithinamerica
Tue 18 Sep 2018 22.25 AEST
‘When you really take a deep breath and think … Texas is not going anywhere, guys.’
Democrats aiming to take the US Senate in November need results “more shocking than Trump winning the 2016 election”, a leading polling expert said on Monday, playing down expectations of a blue wave.
Democrats lead Republicans nationwide by 54% to 46%, enough to take 225 seats and claim a narrow majority in the House, according to Gallup data released at the Hoover Institution, a conservative thinktank in Palo Alto, California.
In the Senate, where Republicans currently hold a narrow 51-49 majority, 10 incumbent Democrats are defending states that Donald Trump won in 2016. “The chances of the Democrats winning all of those seem to me pretty slim,” Doug Rivers, chief scientist at YouGov global polling, told reporters.
“You need a wave where all the toss-ups essentially go one direction and then Democrats need to pick up two more seats to get a majority.
“There’s a rather good opportunity in Tennessee, Nevada and Arizona, and then the long shot, which would be a catastrophe for the Republicans, would be Texas. I don’t think the math adds up for a change. That would be more shocking than Trump winning the 2016 election.”
Rivers, a political science professor at Stanford University, noted that Democratic turnout in recent special elections has been “off the charts” and predicted there was a 75% chance of Democrats taking the House. “But as we learned in 2016, 25% events occur,” he added.
Trump has a 40% job approval rating less than two months before the midterms, according to Gallup, and is seen as a potential drag on Republicans’ fortunes in the House, especially among independents – voters with no party affiliation – and women.
The president’s recent troubles, ranging from an anonymous op-ed by a senior administration official in the New York Times to the supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh facing sexual assault allegations, have led to a recent surge of Democratic optimism that the Senate might also be in play. The Republican senator Ted Cruz faces a surprisingly stiff challenge from Democrat Beto O’Rourke in Texas.
But Lanhee Chen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, said: “I think Republicans will hold on to and expand their majority in the Senate. The House side I’m not sure about. It’s not as easy as, ‘Oh, the Democrats are going to win a bunch of seats.’ It’s too early to tell. We’ll know a little better in three or four weeks.”
Chen, former policy director for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012, suggested that the likelihood of deep red states suddenly turning blue is overblown.
“At the end of the day there are a set of fundamentals here that I think you have to return to when you think about what’s going to happen, and you [would] have to accept the theory that Democratic turnout is going to be so big that it’s going to completely eviscerate what we know about who lives in these states.
“Which is not to say there isn’t concern about a state like Tennessee, for example. It’s just to say when you really take a deep breath and think … Texas is not going anywhere, guys. That’s now what I come back to: what do these states live like? Who lives there?”
While the progressive base is expected to turn out in force, energised by its first chance to impose some checks and balances on Trump, it remains unclear how many independents will join them.
David Brady, a political science professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, said: “I think the Democrats will take the House but at this point I don’t see a wave election where it goes to 230 or 240 or something like that, precisely because I don’t see the independents moving that way yet.”
Nine Senate races are too close to call. Brady added: “What you look for this time is an anti-Trump movement and I’m not seeing that yet among independents. I don’t even see it much among Republicans. Republican women are still saying on the generic ballot they’ll vote Republican at House level.
“In order to take the Senate, Democrats have to win seven of the nine. I think the odds of that happening are not good.”
But Brady also noted a recent YouGov poll finding that just 49% of people who approve of Trump’s presidency want him to run for the White House again in 2020.
“There’s a number of people who like the results that happened so far – less regulation, et cetera – but they don’t like him,” he explained. “There is unanimity among Americans on one thing: vast majorities of Democrats and Republicans would like to see him stop tweeting.
“So I think what happens is even if people like what he’s doing there are many Republicans who don’t like the way he does it. That’s pretty understandable, it seems to me, even if you’re a strong Republican.”
YouGov pollster plays down talk of a blue wave sweeping away Republican majority: ‘Democrats have to win seven of the nine. I think the odds of that happening are not good’
David Smith in Palo Alto, California
@smithinamerica
Tue 18 Sep 2018 22.25 AEST
‘When you really take a deep breath and think … Texas is not going anywhere, guys.’
Democrats aiming to take the US Senate in November need results “more shocking than Trump winning the 2016 election”, a leading polling expert said on Monday, playing down expectations of a blue wave.
Democrats lead Republicans nationwide by 54% to 46%, enough to take 225 seats and claim a narrow majority in the House, according to Gallup data released at the Hoover Institution, a conservative thinktank in Palo Alto, California.
In the Senate, where Republicans currently hold a narrow 51-49 majority, 10 incumbent Democrats are defending states that Donald Trump won in 2016. “The chances of the Democrats winning all of those seem to me pretty slim,” Doug Rivers, chief scientist at YouGov global polling, told reporters.
“You need a wave where all the toss-ups essentially go one direction and then Democrats need to pick up two more seats to get a majority.
“There’s a rather good opportunity in Tennessee, Nevada and Arizona, and then the long shot, which would be a catastrophe for the Republicans, would be Texas. I don’t think the math adds up for a change. That would be more shocking than Trump winning the 2016 election.”
Rivers, a political science professor at Stanford University, noted that Democratic turnout in recent special elections has been “off the charts” and predicted there was a 75% chance of Democrats taking the House. “But as we learned in 2016, 25% events occur,” he added.
Trump has a 40% job approval rating less than two months before the midterms, according to Gallup, and is seen as a potential drag on Republicans’ fortunes in the House, especially among independents – voters with no party affiliation – and women.
The president’s recent troubles, ranging from an anonymous op-ed by a senior administration official in the New York Times to the supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh facing sexual assault allegations, have led to a recent surge of Democratic optimism that the Senate might also be in play. The Republican senator Ted Cruz faces a surprisingly stiff challenge from Democrat Beto O’Rourke in Texas.
But Lanhee Chen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, said: “I think Republicans will hold on to and expand their majority in the Senate. The House side I’m not sure about. It’s not as easy as, ‘Oh, the Democrats are going to win a bunch of seats.’ It’s too early to tell. We’ll know a little better in three or four weeks.”
Chen, former policy director for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012, suggested that the likelihood of deep red states suddenly turning blue is overblown.
“At the end of the day there are a set of fundamentals here that I think you have to return to when you think about what’s going to happen, and you [would] have to accept the theory that Democratic turnout is going to be so big that it’s going to completely eviscerate what we know about who lives in these states.
“Which is not to say there isn’t concern about a state like Tennessee, for example. It’s just to say when you really take a deep breath and think … Texas is not going anywhere, guys. That’s now what I come back to: what do these states live like? Who lives there?”
While the progressive base is expected to turn out in force, energised by its first chance to impose some checks and balances on Trump, it remains unclear how many independents will join them.
David Brady, a political science professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, said: “I think the Democrats will take the House but at this point I don’t see a wave election where it goes to 230 or 240 or something like that, precisely because I don’t see the independents moving that way yet.”
Nine Senate races are too close to call. Brady added: “What you look for this time is an anti-Trump movement and I’m not seeing that yet among independents. I don’t even see it much among Republicans. Republican women are still saying on the generic ballot they’ll vote Republican at House level.
“In order to take the Senate, Democrats have to win seven of the nine. I think the odds of that happening are not good.”
But Brady also noted a recent YouGov poll finding that just 49% of people who approve of Trump’s presidency want him to run for the White House again in 2020.
“There’s a number of people who like the results that happened so far – less regulation, et cetera – but they don’t like him,” he explained. “There is unanimity among Americans on one thing: vast majorities of Democrats and Republicans would like to see him stop tweeting.
“So I think what happens is even if people like what he’s doing there are many Republicans who don’t like the way he does it. That’s pretty understandable, it seems to me, even if you’re a strong Republican.”
Israel Strikes Iranian Arms Shipment at Damascus Airport - Wall Street Journal
Israel Strikes Iranian Arms Shipment at Damascus Airport
Missiles latest in a string of attacks aimed at checking Iran in Syria
By Sune Engel Rasmussen in Beirut
Updated Sept. 16, 2018 2:42 p.m. ET
Israeli missiles are suspected to have struck an Iranian arms shipment at Damascus airport late Saturday, the latest in a string of attacks aimed at eroding Tehran’s military foothold in Syria.
The strikes play into a broader conflict unfolding in the Middle East. The fight against Islamic State militants, who have been driven from their strongholds in Syria and Iraq, has given way to a jostling for power among foreign and regional actors.
Israel has watched with concern as Iran has entrenched itself deeper in Syria on the back of its support for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which has reclaimed most of the territory once held by antigovernment rebels.
Over the past year, Israel has sharply increased airstrikes against Iranian assets in Syria, striking targets from its own border area to the far eastern part of the country to neighborhoods near the capital, Damascus.
Saturday’s strike seemingly targeted a warehouse and a recently arrived arms shipment from Iran to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group, which said the launched missiles were likely Israeli.
According to a news report by the Israeli Hadashot TV Sunday morning, the strike also hit an Iranian cargo plane loaded with weapons, which had recently landed at Damascus International Airport from Tehran.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported that the country’s air defenses repelled some of the incoming missiles, which it said were fired from Israel.
People in Damascus posted footage on social media showing explosions that they described as the airport being hit. The were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Israeli military, in accordance with its usual practice, declined to comment on individual military actions.
But Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday at the beginning of a cabinet meeting that Israel would continue to enforce its red lines, without specifying what they are. He has previously said Israel won’t allow Iran to establish a military presence in Syria.
“Israel is constantly working to prevent our enemies from arming themselves with advanced weaponry,” he said.
The most recent strikes follow warnings from Israel’s defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, earlier this month, that his country would broaden its military campaign against Iran. Israel has accused Iran of seeking to establish a land corridor, allowing it to transport personnel and equipment from Tehran to the Mediterranean, through Iraq and Syria.
Israeli officials have said that Israel has conducted more than 200 strikes, using about 800 bombs, against Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria since the beginning of 2017. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday’s attacks were the third time Israel struck Syria this month.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday’s attacks were the third time Israel struck Syria this month.
Tensions between Israel and Iran have grown as the Assad regime, backed by Tehran, has pushed to clear rebel-held areas near the border with Israel. Israel has said it won’t allow militias loyal to Tehran to entrench near the Golan Heights.
In its largest-ever operation inside Syria, Israeli warplanes in May made dozens of strikes against Iranian infrastructure after an Iranian unit in Syria fired about 20 short-range artillery rockets that Israel said were either shot down or fell short of a nearby military base.
In June, Israel struck a compound near Syria’s frontier with Iraq that security officials said housed members of an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia who crossed the border into Syria.
Rising hostilities between the two long-term foes have exposed fault lines in the relationship between Russia and Iran. Both countries have fought on the side of the Syrian regime, but Moscow is eager to maintain ties with Israel and enlist its support for an enlarged footprint in the Middle East that won’t shrink once the war is over.
Russia has sought to assure Israel that it wants only Syrian forces fighting in the country’s southwest. It has made sure that Iranian-backed troops are no closer than 85 kilometers (about 53 miles) from the Israeli border, Russia’s special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev has said, according to Russian news media.
Moscow has even tried to open diplomatic channels between Tehran and Tel Aviv to defuse tensions, The Wall Street Journal reported in May.
In a meeting with President Trump in July, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin committed to “safely guarantee the security of the State of Israel.”
Russia previously this year pointed to Israel as being responsible for an attack in Homs that killed more than a dozen Iranians or Iranian-linked fighters. But Russia, which controls part of Syria’s airspace, hasn’t interfered in Israel’s attacks.
—Felicia Schwartz and Nazih Osseiran contributed to this article.
Missiles latest in a string of attacks aimed at checking Iran in Syria
By Sune Engel Rasmussen in Beirut
Updated Sept. 16, 2018 2:42 p.m. ET
Israeli missiles are suspected to have struck an Iranian arms shipment at Damascus airport late Saturday, the latest in a string of attacks aimed at eroding Tehran’s military foothold in Syria.
The strikes play into a broader conflict unfolding in the Middle East. The fight against Islamic State militants, who have been driven from their strongholds in Syria and Iraq, has given way to a jostling for power among foreign and regional actors.
Israel has watched with concern as Iran has entrenched itself deeper in Syria on the back of its support for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which has reclaimed most of the territory once held by antigovernment rebels.
Over the past year, Israel has sharply increased airstrikes against Iranian assets in Syria, striking targets from its own border area to the far eastern part of the country to neighborhoods near the capital, Damascus.
Saturday’s strike seemingly targeted a warehouse and a recently arrived arms shipment from Iran to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group, which said the launched missiles were likely Israeli.
According to a news report by the Israeli Hadashot TV Sunday morning, the strike also hit an Iranian cargo plane loaded with weapons, which had recently landed at Damascus International Airport from Tehran.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported that the country’s air defenses repelled some of the incoming missiles, which it said were fired from Israel.
People in Damascus posted footage on social media showing explosions that they described as the airport being hit. The were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Israeli military, in accordance with its usual practice, declined to comment on individual military actions.
But Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday at the beginning of a cabinet meeting that Israel would continue to enforce its red lines, without specifying what they are. He has previously said Israel won’t allow Iran to establish a military presence in Syria.
“Israel is constantly working to prevent our enemies from arming themselves with advanced weaponry,” he said.
The most recent strikes follow warnings from Israel’s defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, earlier this month, that his country would broaden its military campaign against Iran. Israel has accused Iran of seeking to establish a land corridor, allowing it to transport personnel and equipment from Tehran to the Mediterranean, through Iraq and Syria.
Israeli officials have said that Israel has conducted more than 200 strikes, using about 800 bombs, against Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria since the beginning of 2017. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday’s attacks were the third time Israel struck Syria this month.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday’s attacks were the third time Israel struck Syria this month.
Tensions between Israel and Iran have grown as the Assad regime, backed by Tehran, has pushed to clear rebel-held areas near the border with Israel. Israel has said it won’t allow militias loyal to Tehran to entrench near the Golan Heights.
In its largest-ever operation inside Syria, Israeli warplanes in May made dozens of strikes against Iranian infrastructure after an Iranian unit in Syria fired about 20 short-range artillery rockets that Israel said were either shot down or fell short of a nearby military base.
In June, Israel struck a compound near Syria’s frontier with Iraq that security officials said housed members of an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia who crossed the border into Syria.
Rising hostilities between the two long-term foes have exposed fault lines in the relationship between Russia and Iran. Both countries have fought on the side of the Syrian regime, but Moscow is eager to maintain ties with Israel and enlist its support for an enlarged footprint in the Middle East that won’t shrink once the war is over.
Russia has sought to assure Israel that it wants only Syrian forces fighting in the country’s southwest. It has made sure that Iranian-backed troops are no closer than 85 kilometers (about 53 miles) from the Israeli border, Russia’s special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev has said, according to Russian news media.
Moscow has even tried to open diplomatic channels between Tehran and Tel Aviv to defuse tensions, The Wall Street Journal reported in May.
In a meeting with President Trump in July, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin committed to “safely guarantee the security of the State of Israel.”
Russia previously this year pointed to Israel as being responsible for an attack in Homs that killed more than a dozen Iranians or Iranian-linked fighters. But Russia, which controls part of Syria’s airspace, hasn’t interfered in Israel’s attacks.
—Felicia Schwartz and Nazih Osseiran contributed to this article.
Australia strawberry needle scare: Apple and banana fuel 'copycat' fears - BBC News
Sept. 18, 2018.
Australia strawberry needle scare: Apple and banana fuel 'copycat' fears
Several strawberry brands have been withdrawn from sale
Australian police say sewing needles have been found hidden in an apple and a banana, amid a nationwide scare that has tormented the strawberry industry.
Since last week, Australians in every state have reported finding needles concealed in strawberry punnets.
Health Minister Greg Hunt has called it a "vicious crime" and ordered the nation's food watchdog to assist in resolving the scare.
Police said the apple and banana cases, both in Sydney, were "isolated".
But they added to more than 20 scares involving strawberries in New South Wales (NSW) alone, Supt Daniel Doherty said.
The first cases emerged in Queensland. In that state, authorities say they are investigating whether the sabotage is due to one person, or several people operating independently.
In the most serious case, a man was taken to hospital last week after eating a strawberry that contained a needle.
Police have stepped up warnings about copycat incidents, saying perpetrators - and those who make false reports - face up to 10 years in jail.
'Evil' tampering
The scare has spread to Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.
Several strawberry brands have been withdrawn, while New Zealand's biggest grocers have stopped selling Australian strawberries as a precaution.
Health officials have advised Australians to cut up strawberries before eating them.
Six of eight states and territories have been affected
"This is a very vicious crime and it's a general attack on the public," Mr Hunt said at the weekend.
Queensland police say complicated supply chains in the strawberry industry have made for a slow investigation.
Two states have offered A$100,000 (£55,000; $72,000) rewards for information.
In Western Australia, Premier Mark McGowan said the people who tampered with fruit were "evil" and risked others' lives.
Hit to industry
Strawberry prices have already dropped around the country, with prices in Western Australia now below the cost of production, local media reported.
The scare - which comes during the peak of production - has affected thousands of workers in an industry worth about A$130m a year, the federal government said.
Australia's strawberry needle scare widens
Tainted pomegranate kills woman
Melon listeria kills three in Australia
Queensland has announced a A$1m assistance package for farmers in the state.
One manager of berry farms, Gavin Scurr, asked the public to continue buying strawberries.
"There's a handful of cases in 100 million punnets but it's really brought our industry to its knees," Mr Scurr, from Piñata Farms, told radio station 3AW.
Strawberry producers had begun ordering metal detectors as a safety precaution, said Strawberry Growers Association of Western Australia president Neil Handasyde.
Australia strawberry needle scare: Apple and banana fuel 'copycat' fears
Several strawberry brands have been withdrawn from sale
Australian police say sewing needles have been found hidden in an apple and a banana, amid a nationwide scare that has tormented the strawberry industry.
Since last week, Australians in every state have reported finding needles concealed in strawberry punnets.
Health Minister Greg Hunt has called it a "vicious crime" and ordered the nation's food watchdog to assist in resolving the scare.
Police said the apple and banana cases, both in Sydney, were "isolated".
But they added to more than 20 scares involving strawberries in New South Wales (NSW) alone, Supt Daniel Doherty said.
The first cases emerged in Queensland. In that state, authorities say they are investigating whether the sabotage is due to one person, or several people operating independently.
In the most serious case, a man was taken to hospital last week after eating a strawberry that contained a needle.
Police have stepped up warnings about copycat incidents, saying perpetrators - and those who make false reports - face up to 10 years in jail.
'Evil' tampering
The scare has spread to Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.
Several strawberry brands have been withdrawn, while New Zealand's biggest grocers have stopped selling Australian strawberries as a precaution.
Health officials have advised Australians to cut up strawberries before eating them.
Six of eight states and territories have been affected
"This is a very vicious crime and it's a general attack on the public," Mr Hunt said at the weekend.
Queensland police say complicated supply chains in the strawberry industry have made for a slow investigation.
Two states have offered A$100,000 (£55,000; $72,000) rewards for information.
In Western Australia, Premier Mark McGowan said the people who tampered with fruit were "evil" and risked others' lives.
Hit to industry
Strawberry prices have already dropped around the country, with prices in Western Australia now below the cost of production, local media reported.
The scare - which comes during the peak of production - has affected thousands of workers in an industry worth about A$130m a year, the federal government said.
Australia's strawberry needle scare widens
Tainted pomegranate kills woman
Melon listeria kills three in Australia
Queensland has announced a A$1m assistance package for farmers in the state.
One manager of berry farms, Gavin Scurr, asked the public to continue buying strawberries.
"There's a handful of cases in 100 million punnets but it's really brought our industry to its knees," Mr Scurr, from Piñata Farms, told radio station 3AW.
Strawberry producers had begun ordering metal detectors as a safety precaution, said Strawberry Growers Association of Western Australia president Neil Handasyde.
US imposes new tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods - BBC News
Sept. 18, 2018.
US imposes new tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods
Rice is among the items targeted in the latest round of US tariffs
The US is imposing new tariffs on $200bn (£150bn) of Chinese goods as it escalates its trade war with Beijing.
These will apply to almost 6,000 items, marking the biggest round of US tariffs so far.
Handbags, rice and textiles will be included, but some items expected to be targeted such as smart watches and high chairs have been excluded.
The Chinese commerce ministry said it had no choice but to retaliate but is yet to detail what action it will take.
The US taxes will take effect from 24 September, starting at 10% and increasing to 25% from the start of next year unless the two countries agree a deal.
China and trade: Playing dirty or misunderstood victim?
Trade wars, tariffs and protectionism explained
The early victims of Trump's trade war
Trade row: What has happened so far?
Six ways China could retaliate in a trade war
US President Donald Trump said the latest round of tariffs was in response to China's "unfair trade practices".
"We have been very clear about the type of changes that need to be made, and we have given China every opportunity to treat us more fairly. But, so far, China has been unwilling to change its practices," he said.
Mr Trump also warned that if China retaliated then the US would "immediately pursue phase three" and impose further tariffs on another $267bn worth of Chinese products.
Such a move would mean almost all of China's exports to the US would be subject to new duties.
After opening lower, the Shanghai stock market ended the day 1.8% higher, while Tokyo was up 1.4% and Hong Kong gained 0.6%.
Hasn't the US already imposed tariffs?
Yes. In fact, this latest round marks the third set of tariffs put into motion so far this year.
In July, the White House increased charges on $34bn worth of Chinese products. Then last month, the escalating trade war moved up a gear when the US brought in a 25% tax on a second wave of goods worth $16bn.
This latest round means that about half of all Chinese imports to the US are now subject to the new duties.
It is also the biggest set of tariffs to date, and unlike the earlier rounds this latest list targets consumer goods, such as luggage and furniture.
That means households may start to feel the impact from higher prices.
US companies have already said they are worried about the effect of higher costs on their businesses and warned of the risk of job cuts.
Trump tariffs will hurt global growth, IMF warns
Will Trump's tariffs stop Chinese espionage?
While economists generally estimate that the tariffs will have little impact on the overall US economy, they have warned that the effects are difficult to predict.
What items have been targeted?
Officials have said they want to shield consumer goods from the taxes as much as possible.
But many everyday items such as suitcases, handbags, toilet paper and wool are included in this latest round of tariffs.
The list also includes several food items from frozen cuts of meat, to almost all types of fish from smoked mackerel to scallops and soybeans, various types of fruit and cereal and rice.
Why are smart watches and high chairs exempt?
The Apple Watch is one of the items to escape the tariffs
The list slated for tariffs originally included more than 6,000 items, but US officials later removed about 300 types of items, including smart watches, bicycle helmets, play pens, high chairs and baby car seats.
The changes come after fierce opposition from US companies including Apple and Dell, which fear the tariffs will increase their costs as many of their products are made in China.
Earlier this month, Apple wrote to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer warning that consumers would have to pay more for its products as a result of the proposed tariffs.
At the time, Mr Trump replied with a tweet urging Apple: "Make your products in the United States instead of China."
US tech firms ask for protection from next Trump tariffs
Media captionWhy the US-China trade war will hit most of our pockets
Why is the US doing this?
The White House says its tariffs are a response to China's "unfair" trade policies.
In theory, the tariffs will make US-made products cheaper than imported ones, and so encourage consumers to buy American. The idea is they would boost local businesses and support the national economy.
US officials hope the risk of economic harm will convince the Chinese government to change its policies.
The BBC's Asia business correspondent Karishma Vaswani said the escalating trade war between the two countries is in part due to a lack of understanding of the other's position.
"Given the diametrically opposing views Washington and Beijing have of their problems, this trade war is unlikely to get better before it gets worse - for them, or for any of us."
Read more analysis from Karishma Vaswani
Many US businesses are critical of the tariffs with farmers, manufacturers, retailers and other industry groups forming a coalition to oppose the tariffs, calling them taxes on American families.
How has China responded?
China have previously imposed tariffs on $50bn of US products in retaliation, targeting their response against key parts of the president's political base, such as farmers.
The government has outlined a plan to impose further tariffs on roughly $60bn of US goods, and threatened other measures.
Are the two sides talking?
Not really. Talks between high-level officials ended in May without resolving the matter and efforts to restart discussions have failed.
US and China officials had discussed a new round of talks over the past week, but Mr Trump's latest move is likely to sour relations further.
China is reported to have said it would reject new trade talks if the President imposed the $200bn worth of tariffs on its exports.
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Tuesday it was up to Beijing to take the next steps on talks: "The question about whether or when to have a discussion is very importantly in their ballpark."
The immediate objective of President Trump's action against China is to address what he calls the theft of American companies' technology, but it also plays into his wider concern about the US trade deficit.
He sees it as something that needs to be corrected and as the result of bad trade agreements and unfair trading by other countries.
The trouble is that a trade deficit is generally regarded as being the result of savings and investment decisions rather than trade policy. A country that spends more than it earns has a trade deficit.
President Trump's other policies include tax cuts that could increase government borrowing, which is equivalent to cutting national saving and could create a bigger trade deficit.
What Mr Trump hopes is that the tax cuts will boost economic activity so much that they will generate more revenue - and "pay for themselves". That's another area of economic controversy.
US imposes new tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods
Rice is among the items targeted in the latest round of US tariffs
The US is imposing new tariffs on $200bn (£150bn) of Chinese goods as it escalates its trade war with Beijing.
These will apply to almost 6,000 items, marking the biggest round of US tariffs so far.
Handbags, rice and textiles will be included, but some items expected to be targeted such as smart watches and high chairs have been excluded.
The Chinese commerce ministry said it had no choice but to retaliate but is yet to detail what action it will take.
The US taxes will take effect from 24 September, starting at 10% and increasing to 25% from the start of next year unless the two countries agree a deal.
China and trade: Playing dirty or misunderstood victim?
Trade wars, tariffs and protectionism explained
The early victims of Trump's trade war
Trade row: What has happened so far?
Six ways China could retaliate in a trade war
US President Donald Trump said the latest round of tariffs was in response to China's "unfair trade practices".
"We have been very clear about the type of changes that need to be made, and we have given China every opportunity to treat us more fairly. But, so far, China has been unwilling to change its practices," he said.
Mr Trump also warned that if China retaliated then the US would "immediately pursue phase three" and impose further tariffs on another $267bn worth of Chinese products.
Such a move would mean almost all of China's exports to the US would be subject to new duties.
After opening lower, the Shanghai stock market ended the day 1.8% higher, while Tokyo was up 1.4% and Hong Kong gained 0.6%.
Hasn't the US already imposed tariffs?
Yes. In fact, this latest round marks the third set of tariffs put into motion so far this year.
In July, the White House increased charges on $34bn worth of Chinese products. Then last month, the escalating trade war moved up a gear when the US brought in a 25% tax on a second wave of goods worth $16bn.
This latest round means that about half of all Chinese imports to the US are now subject to the new duties.
It is also the biggest set of tariffs to date, and unlike the earlier rounds this latest list targets consumer goods, such as luggage and furniture.
That means households may start to feel the impact from higher prices.
US companies have already said they are worried about the effect of higher costs on their businesses and warned of the risk of job cuts.
Trump tariffs will hurt global growth, IMF warns
Will Trump's tariffs stop Chinese espionage?
While economists generally estimate that the tariffs will have little impact on the overall US economy, they have warned that the effects are difficult to predict.
What items have been targeted?
Officials have said they want to shield consumer goods from the taxes as much as possible.
But many everyday items such as suitcases, handbags, toilet paper and wool are included in this latest round of tariffs.
The list also includes several food items from frozen cuts of meat, to almost all types of fish from smoked mackerel to scallops and soybeans, various types of fruit and cereal and rice.
Why are smart watches and high chairs exempt?
The Apple Watch is one of the items to escape the tariffs
The list slated for tariffs originally included more than 6,000 items, but US officials later removed about 300 types of items, including smart watches, bicycle helmets, play pens, high chairs and baby car seats.
The changes come after fierce opposition from US companies including Apple and Dell, which fear the tariffs will increase their costs as many of their products are made in China.
Earlier this month, Apple wrote to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer warning that consumers would have to pay more for its products as a result of the proposed tariffs.
At the time, Mr Trump replied with a tweet urging Apple: "Make your products in the United States instead of China."
US tech firms ask for protection from next Trump tariffs
Media captionWhy the US-China trade war will hit most of our pockets
Why is the US doing this?
The White House says its tariffs are a response to China's "unfair" trade policies.
In theory, the tariffs will make US-made products cheaper than imported ones, and so encourage consumers to buy American. The idea is they would boost local businesses and support the national economy.
US officials hope the risk of economic harm will convince the Chinese government to change its policies.
The BBC's Asia business correspondent Karishma Vaswani said the escalating trade war between the two countries is in part due to a lack of understanding of the other's position.
"Given the diametrically opposing views Washington and Beijing have of their problems, this trade war is unlikely to get better before it gets worse - for them, or for any of us."
Read more analysis from Karishma Vaswani
Many US businesses are critical of the tariffs with farmers, manufacturers, retailers and other industry groups forming a coalition to oppose the tariffs, calling them taxes on American families.
How has China responded?
China have previously imposed tariffs on $50bn of US products in retaliation, targeting their response against key parts of the president's political base, such as farmers.
The government has outlined a plan to impose further tariffs on roughly $60bn of US goods, and threatened other measures.
Are the two sides talking?
Not really. Talks between high-level officials ended in May without resolving the matter and efforts to restart discussions have failed.
US and China officials had discussed a new round of talks over the past week, but Mr Trump's latest move is likely to sour relations further.
China is reported to have said it would reject new trade talks if the President imposed the $200bn worth of tariffs on its exports.
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Tuesday it was up to Beijing to take the next steps on talks: "The question about whether or when to have a discussion is very importantly in their ballpark."
The immediate objective of President Trump's action against China is to address what he calls the theft of American companies' technology, but it also plays into his wider concern about the US trade deficit.
He sees it as something that needs to be corrected and as the result of bad trade agreements and unfair trading by other countries.
The trouble is that a trade deficit is generally regarded as being the result of savings and investment decisions rather than trade policy. A country that spends more than it earns has a trade deficit.
President Trump's other policies include tax cuts that could increase government borrowing, which is equivalent to cutting national saving and could create a bigger trade deficit.
What Mr Trump hopes is that the tax cuts will boost economic activity so much that they will generate more revenue - and "pay for themselves". That's another area of economic controversy.
Russia blames Israel after military plane shot down off Syria - BBC News
Sept. 18, 2018.
Russia blames Israel after military plane shot down off Syria
The Il-20 aircraft was returning to a Russian base on the north-western coast of Syria (file photo)
Russia has said Syria shot down one of its military planes - but laid the blame for the deaths of the 15 personnel on board with Israel.
The defence ministry said Israeli jets put the Il-20 plane into the path of Syrian air defence systems on Monday after failing to give Moscow enough warning of a strike on Syrian targets.
The Il-20 disappeared off the radar at about 23:00 local time (20:00 GMT).
The Israel Defence Force (IDF) has expressed "sorrow" over the deaths.
A tour of Syria - with the Russian military
Russia and Turkey to create Syria buffer zone
However, in a statement released on Twitter, it added: "Israel holds the [Syrian President Bashar al-]Assad regime, whose military shot down the Russian plane, fully responsible for this incident."
It went on to say its jets were back in Israeli airspace by the time the missiles were launched.
Israel - which also blamed Iran and Hezbollah - rarely acknowledges carrying out strikes on Syria, but an Israeli military official recently said it had hit more than 200 Iranian targets in Syria over the past 18 months.
The Israeli government is concerned by what it calls Iran's "military entrenchment" in Syria, as well as shipments of Iranian weapons to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is fighting alongside Syrian government forces.
What exactly happened?
The details are murky, and Russia's account of the incident has yet to be verified.
Monday's incident is reported to have occurred about 35km (22 miles) from the Syrian coast as the Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft was returning to Russia's Hmeimim airbase near the north-western city of Latakia.
Russia's Tass news agency says the Il-20 plane "disappeared during an attack by four Israeli F-16 jets on Syrian facilities in Latakia province".
Reports on Syrian state media spoke of an attack in the area shortly before the plane disappeared. According to Sana news agency, the military said it had intercepted "enemy missiles coming from the open sea towards the city of Latakia".
Syrian television also reported explosions over the sky in Latakia just before 22:00. Thirty minutes later, the Sana Facebook page reported that Syrian air defences had responded to enemy missiles.
What does Russia accuse Israel of doing?
In a statement, Russia said Israel's "irresponsible actions" were to blame, saying it was given less than a minute's warning ahead of the strikes, which was not enough time to get the military surveillance plane out of the way.
"The Israeli planes deliberately created a dangerous situation for surface ships and aircraft in the area," a defence ministry spokesman said.
The spokesman accused Israeli pilots of "using the Russian airplane as a cover", putting it "in the line of fire coming from Syrian air defence systems".
Photos 'reveal' Russia jet damage at Hmeimim base
Why is there a war in Syria?
The plane, the spokesman continued, was shot down by a Syrian missile.
"As a result of the irresponsible actions by the Israeli military, 15 Russian servicemen have died," the spokesman said.
It is not possible to verify any of these claims.
What has Israel said?
The IDF said its jets were targeting Syrian military facilities "from which systems to manufacture accurate and lethal weapons were about to be transferred on behalf of Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon".
It added the Syrian anti-aircraft missiles were "inaccurate" and "extensive". What's more, it claimed its jets were back in Israeli airspace by the time the missiles were launched.
The statement also accused the Syrian military of failing "to ensure that no Russian planes were in the air", adding it would share the relevant information with Moscow.
In an earlier phone call on Tuesday, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman the blame "fully rests with Israel", adding that Russia "reserves the right to take further steps in response".
Russia later summoned the Israeli ambassador to its foreign ministry.
A search-and-rescue operation is under way.
Are the accusations fair?
Analysis by Jonathan Marcus, BBC Defence Correspondent
Russia's anger is real. But the question is, are the Russians attributing blame fairly?
The charges are two-fold. Long-standing and up to now effective information-sharing broke down.
The Israeli Air Force has Russian-speaking air traffic controllers able to communicate with their Russian opposite numbers. But Moscow says they were informed of the Israeli raid with only one minute's notice.
Secondly Russia charges - more seriously - that the Israelis used the large radar signature of the Ilyushin turbo-prop to mask their own aircraft.
But the radar signatures of the relatively slow Ilyushin and four nimble F-16 jets are radically different.
Furthermore, the Syrian air defences should have known the Russian plane was in-bound, whatever the Israelis were doing.
There may be several contributory factors in this tragedy. Russia cannot publicly castigate its Syrian allies. In private things may be rather different.
Why is a Russian aircraft in Syria?
Russia began military strikes in Syria in 2015 after a request from President Bashar al-Assad, who has stayed in power despite seven years of civil war which has so far killed more than 350,000 people.
The Russian military said in April of this year it had also spent 18 months helping to rebuild the air defence system, according to the UK's Guardian newspaper.
Hmeimim is Russia's main base for air strikes on rebel groups in Syria - strikes that have enabled President Assad's forces to recover much lost ground since 2015.
Russia says its air strikes only target "terrorists", but activists have said they mainly hit mainstream rebel fighters and civilians.
According to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, at least 7,928 civilians and 10,069 combatants have been killed in Russian strikes.
Russia has also suffered personnel losses, including the deaths of 39 people when a Russian military transport plane crashed as it attempted to land at Hmeimim in March.
Russia blames Israel after military plane shot down off Syria
The Il-20 aircraft was returning to a Russian base on the north-western coast of Syria (file photo)
Russia has said Syria shot down one of its military planes - but laid the blame for the deaths of the 15 personnel on board with Israel.
The defence ministry said Israeli jets put the Il-20 plane into the path of Syrian air defence systems on Monday after failing to give Moscow enough warning of a strike on Syrian targets.
The Il-20 disappeared off the radar at about 23:00 local time (20:00 GMT).
The Israel Defence Force (IDF) has expressed "sorrow" over the deaths.
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However, in a statement released on Twitter, it added: "Israel holds the [Syrian President Bashar al-]Assad regime, whose military shot down the Russian plane, fully responsible for this incident."
It went on to say its jets were back in Israeli airspace by the time the missiles were launched.
Israel - which also blamed Iran and Hezbollah - rarely acknowledges carrying out strikes on Syria, but an Israeli military official recently said it had hit more than 200 Iranian targets in Syria over the past 18 months.
The Israeli government is concerned by what it calls Iran's "military entrenchment" in Syria, as well as shipments of Iranian weapons to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is fighting alongside Syrian government forces.
What exactly happened?
The details are murky, and Russia's account of the incident has yet to be verified.
Monday's incident is reported to have occurred about 35km (22 miles) from the Syrian coast as the Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft was returning to Russia's Hmeimim airbase near the north-western city of Latakia.
Russia's Tass news agency says the Il-20 plane "disappeared during an attack by four Israeli F-16 jets on Syrian facilities in Latakia province".
Reports on Syrian state media spoke of an attack in the area shortly before the plane disappeared. According to Sana news agency, the military said it had intercepted "enemy missiles coming from the open sea towards the city of Latakia".
Syrian television also reported explosions over the sky in Latakia just before 22:00. Thirty minutes later, the Sana Facebook page reported that Syrian air defences had responded to enemy missiles.
What does Russia accuse Israel of doing?
In a statement, Russia said Israel's "irresponsible actions" were to blame, saying it was given less than a minute's warning ahead of the strikes, which was not enough time to get the military surveillance plane out of the way.
"The Israeli planes deliberately created a dangerous situation for surface ships and aircraft in the area," a defence ministry spokesman said.
The spokesman accused Israeli pilots of "using the Russian airplane as a cover", putting it "in the line of fire coming from Syrian air defence systems".
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Why is there a war in Syria?
The plane, the spokesman continued, was shot down by a Syrian missile.
"As a result of the irresponsible actions by the Israeli military, 15 Russian servicemen have died," the spokesman said.
It is not possible to verify any of these claims.
What has Israel said?
The IDF said its jets were targeting Syrian military facilities "from which systems to manufacture accurate and lethal weapons were about to be transferred on behalf of Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon".
It added the Syrian anti-aircraft missiles were "inaccurate" and "extensive". What's more, it claimed its jets were back in Israeli airspace by the time the missiles were launched.
The statement also accused the Syrian military of failing "to ensure that no Russian planes were in the air", adding it would share the relevant information with Moscow.
In an earlier phone call on Tuesday, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman the blame "fully rests with Israel", adding that Russia "reserves the right to take further steps in response".
Russia later summoned the Israeli ambassador to its foreign ministry.
A search-and-rescue operation is under way.
Are the accusations fair?
Analysis by Jonathan Marcus, BBC Defence Correspondent
Russia's anger is real. But the question is, are the Russians attributing blame fairly?
The charges are two-fold. Long-standing and up to now effective information-sharing broke down.
The Israeli Air Force has Russian-speaking air traffic controllers able to communicate with their Russian opposite numbers. But Moscow says they were informed of the Israeli raid with only one minute's notice.
Secondly Russia charges - more seriously - that the Israelis used the large radar signature of the Ilyushin turbo-prop to mask their own aircraft.
But the radar signatures of the relatively slow Ilyushin and four nimble F-16 jets are radically different.
Furthermore, the Syrian air defences should have known the Russian plane was in-bound, whatever the Israelis were doing.
There may be several contributory factors in this tragedy. Russia cannot publicly castigate its Syrian allies. In private things may be rather different.
Why is a Russian aircraft in Syria?
Russia began military strikes in Syria in 2015 after a request from President Bashar al-Assad, who has stayed in power despite seven years of civil war which has so far killed more than 350,000 people.
The Russian military said in April of this year it had also spent 18 months helping to rebuild the air defence system, according to the UK's Guardian newspaper.
Hmeimim is Russia's main base for air strikes on rebel groups in Syria - strikes that have enabled President Assad's forces to recover much lost ground since 2015.
Russia says its air strikes only target "terrorists", but activists have said they mainly hit mainstream rebel fighters and civilians.
According to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, at least 7,928 civilians and 10,069 combatants have been killed in Russian strikes.
Russia has also suffered personnel losses, including the deaths of 39 people when a Russian military transport plane crashed as it attempted to land at Hmeimim in March.
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