Trump Dithers on Remaining $300B in Chinese Goods for Tariff Targeting

He tariffs me, he tariffs me not. After announcing yesterday that he’d be exacting 25% tariffs on whatever Chinese exports to the United States are left to tariff, US President Donald “Tariff Man” Trump has pulled back a little bit, suggesting that maybe putting even more taxes on goods imported to the US isn’t a sealed deal after all. Markets began a dead-cat bounce on the news, but then proceeded to drop even further, tired of Trump’s back and forth, unsure what to believe, and just going with the panic flow. “I haven’t made that decision yet,” he said of the remaining $300B.

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“We have the right to do another 325 billion at 25 per cent. That is a tremendous amount of money that would come into our country,” he flagrantly added, misleading people into believing that taxes paid by American companies to the American government are somehow counted as “[coming] into our country,” when they are taken from the country in the first place. He seems to believe that if he says it enough times, it will become reality because hey, he’s Donald Trump. Which raises the question, if he really thinks that it’ll be money “[coming] into our country”, why not just tariff the daylights out of everything by thousands of percent for all imports from all countries plus the moon and get, like, really crazy rich? (NYSEAERCA:FXI)

Uber Cries Facebook As Investors Dump Stock

Remember the Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) IPO debacle that brought the stock embarrassingly down in its opening days and burned Mark Cuban, among others? Then, of course, Facebook became the leader of the FANG complex and skyrocketed. Well, Uber (NYSE:UBER) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi thinks that’ll be Uber’s story as well. “Remember that the Facebook and Amazon post-IPO trading was incredibly difficult for those companies. And look at how they have delivered since. Our road will be the same,” he claimed in an email leaked to MarketWatch.

“There are many versions of our future that are highly profitable and valuable, and there are of course some that are less so. During times of negative market sentiment, the pessimistic voices get louder, and the optimistic voices pull back.”

Israeli Spyware Found on Whatsapp

Speaking of Facebook, spyware was found on Whatsapp, put there by an Israeli firm called NSO group according to the Financial Times. A bug would dial the number of a victim and hang up, erasing the call log and making the victim roll his eyes thinking that maybe a telemarketer called him or something. Once infected, the company would be able to deliver the functions of the phone into the Israeli government’s hands, allowing it to use the phone as a spying tool. “The attack has all the hallmarks of a private company reportedly that works with governments to deliver spyware that takes over the functions of mobile phone operating systems,” WhatsApp said in a statement. NSO denies that the bug was used to spy on the infected people though, so it’s all cool. “Under no circumstances would NSO be involved in the operating or identifying of targets of its technology, which is solely operated by intelligence and law enforcement agencies,” NSO Group told the FT. “NSO would not, or could not, use its technology in its own right to target any person or organization, including this individual,” implying that all it did was hand over the phone’s functions to the government or governments it works with, which is perfectly fine, seemingly, by implication.

Brexit Bill To be Shot Down Again?

Here we go with the Brexit bill again. It won’t pass for a fourth time, and everyone’s really excited. This time the bill is set for an even worse failure as many MPs who voted for it last time after voting against it the time before and the time before that, are set to vote against it this time again. The conservatives are against a customs union, which would tether the UK to the EU permanently or until the latter disintegrates, and Labour demands a customs union, which would tether the UK to the EU permanently. So everything is going swell. The next deadline for a deal is Halloween, after which a no deal Brexit would be the default, again.

Bayer’s Monsanto Ordered To Pony Up Another $2B In Roundup Shakedown

A California jury has ruled in favor of a couple on Monday who blame Roundup weed killer for their non Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The jury in this case made the diagnosis that of all factors involved in the couple’s lives, it was Roundup that caused their cancer, even though they are not doctors. The couple, on Mr. and Mrs. Pilliod, will receive $2.05 billion, which opens Monanto-owner Bayer (OTCMKTS:BAYRY) to, in principle, trillions of dollars in claims from everyone who insists that Roundup caused their cancer. Bayer is pretty distraught about the situation. “We have great sympathy for Mr. and Mrs. Pilliod, but the evidence in this case was clear that both have long histories of illnesses known to be substantial risk factors for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), most NHL has no known cause, and there is not reliable scientific evidence to conclude that glyphosate-based herbicides were the “but for” cause of their illnesses as the jury was required to find in this case.”