Is not a leaf is not a freefloating currency, but it is market pressure pushing the depreciation. They are labeled a currency manipulator. Stick with us. We will talk about what that means in practice. Anna get Anna Anderson edgerson in washington. There is potential political fallout from the shootings and republicans are getting nervous about suburban voters. We always is the news get, is this the time that will , will lawmakers address the epidemic of gun violence . There is pressure on republicans to block to back common sense guncontrol bills. That is something wildly supported among the American People and something republicans could get on board with if they got political cover from the president , it became out strongly in favor of the proposals. David you have covered congress for some time and you suggest we have seen things like this before. The same thing we saw with senator rob portman from ohio, come out fairly emotionally and say he wants more guncontrol. Things like red flag laws. Is this different than your experience of what we have seen before . A each member of commerce each member of congress will feel personally what happens in their district. You look at how beto orourke has responded to the tragedy in el paso. It is hard to say which republicans will come out in favor of this. The democratic led house has passed two background check laws. It would be easy for the senate to take this up. It is up to Mitch Mcconnell whether he will put this on the floor, and he will not ask his members to take a vote that will be politically damaging. We will have to see how american sentiment informs the way politicians act and how they respond and how they respond to the president s signals. David thank you so much for the great reporting from washington. We always want to mention that michael bloomberg, owner of the Parent Company of bloomberg news, is the founder of and helps fund every town for gun safety, a nonprofit that helps advocate for gun violence prevention and other gun safety measures. Now we want to go to london and emma chandra. Reports that President Trump once to curry favor with Boris Johnson. Emma those are probably the right words to use. Secretaryk. Foreign currently in north america visiting canada and heading to washington tomorrow before moving on to mexico city. He is headed to the u. S. To try to expand the possibilities of a potential trade deal after brexit, particularly a trade that is seen u. S. As key by the Boris Johnson administration postbrexit to be able to sign a deal with the u. S. There are some who think the u. K. Saying it is willing to leave the European Union without a deal puts them in a more desperate position. That is how it was described by media,ummers on u. K. Saying theres not that much leverage and the Trump Administration will look to exploit that as they move toward making a deal. Also other reports that the administration at the white house will look to try to bring the u. K. More into the u. S. Fold, into the european fold in the coming months as the u. K. Leaves the European Union, trying to bring them closer to the Trump Administrations positions with regard to iran and with regard to a number of other different areas where they see there could be more cooperation. We are looking at huawei and china. David just briefly, you said brexit. No deal brexit. Will it happen or not happen . Emma that is anybodys guess. We know the Johnson Administration has said do or die, britain is leaving the European Union on october 31. You had more from opponents of the current Prime Minister this week who said they will seek to block that, not least jeremy saying he will call a no confidence vote in the Prime Minister once parliament returns. Also tory rebels saying they will try to block any attempt to suspend parliament in the runup to that deadline. We have seen the pound stabilize somewhat but it seems to be paring some of those gains. David thank you so much. Emma chandra reporting from london. Lets go back to tom orlik. Larry summers did not only talk to the bbc, he talked to bloomberg. Calling him was this chinas currency manipulator justified or not . This is what he said. Thehina has been entering market, not to sell its currency, but to buy its currency. China has been propping it up. ,f we let Market Forces operate no chinese currency intervention , no chinese controls on the flow of capital, the currency would fall substantially. David it is interesting. Larry summers was in the Treasury Department the last time the United States called china a currency manipulator. We call them a currency manipulator. What can we do about it . The reason why china probably does not care that much about this designation. The currency manipulator tag is meant to open the door to other sanctions like tariffs. Guess what . China is facing an unprecedented level of punitive tariffs. The president said they will already have more on september 1. How much worse can it get . This is a symbolically significant move by the u. S. Doesnt move the dial in the right direction . No. Tariffsdavid more september 1, but it is 10 . You can always increase those tariffs. Is he setting us up for the possibility of greater than 10 tariffs . Tom the president already flagged the possibility that the 300 billion in chinese goods is going from a 10 tariff to a 25 tariff. I think that possibility is already there with or without the currency manipulator tag. What this represents is a further hardening of positions on both sides. The currency manipulator tag is a hard position in d. C. Leaving asbeijing is they do not want to escalate. David the president has an election himself coming up. I would bet he does not want to be in the position he is in right now with respect to china. It will not look good for the u. S. Economy. How can he climb off of this . What do you get that he can give the American Public and say i did the job . Tom there a couple of things to say. I do not have a window into the white house. I do not know what President Trump is thinking. I suspect that at the moment he sees the trade war is Something Like a political free lunch. The trade war with china plays well with voters. It also pushes the Federal Reserve to cut rates. That was the floor under growth and the floor under market. He can have his trade war without facing the full economic costs. The other point i would make is that a lot of the trouble in the markets, a lot of the trouble in the economy comes from the uncertainty in the fear of further tariffs. Even without pulling them back, just the signal from the president that talks are going better, im going to sit down with president xi again, Something Like that in the months running up to the election could calm the waters significantly. David thanks a lot. Really fascinating. Tom orlik, chief economist. Lets look at the markets with abigail doolittle. Abigial today were looking at a bit of a rebound. The dow, the s p 500, the nasdaq. Green on the screen. All the major averages up. 4 , but off of the highs. Uncertainty remains around the future of the trade tensions between the u. S. And china. Around the fed, lots of macro uncertainty. In the context of the last six days, lets take a look at the chart of the s p 500, and you will see the degree of the selling pressure. Down five days in a row, then yesterday the big day, the worst day of the year. Today a small gain. The s p 500 down about 5. 5 on these macro concerns. Also lower today, the drug distributors including cardinal health, weakness for some of these names and this has everything to do with the opioid controversy. Companies, which are the middlemen between drugstores and the big arm a Suitable Companies are being sued by the states for 45 billion in damages around the ability crisis. They are trying to settle for 10 billion, making investors nervous. Speaking of investors being nervous, if we look at process and volatility, in yellow we are currencies, vix for and thea vix for bonds, vix. That may suggest more volatility for stocks ahead with the validation currencies moving around. David it probably does not help that we are in august without a lot of transaction. Coming up, President Trump and his Treasury Department accused china of being currency manipulators. That is next. This is bloomberg. David this is balance of power on bloomberg television. We turn to Mark Crumpton for bloomberg first word news. Mark the United States and the taliban have been drafting agreement to withdraw u. S. Forces from afghanistan. The sides of been meeting for the last two days. Withdrawforces would in exchange for guarantees afghanistan were not become a haven for other terrorist groups. President trump is set to visit el paso and dayton in response to Mass Shootings over the weekend that left a combined total of 31 people dead and more than 50 injured. Texas democratic lawmakers have asked the president to stay away. President ial candidate and el paso native beto orourke cited mr. Trumps history of inflammatory rhetoric about immigration. We cannot act as though this were to some kind of Natural Disaster or a matter of course for the country or the new normal for the United States. There is a real cost and President Trump is part of that. Mark the president will also meet with ohio is republican governor, who announced several gun violence prevention proposals this morning. Opponents of Prime MinisterBoris Johnsons threat of a new deal brexit are hardening their plans to stop him. The u. K. Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn signals he will call a vote of noconfidence next month. Meanwhile, conservative lawmaker dominic read says more conservatives will turn against the Prime Minister. Nobel laureate Toni Morrison is dead. She gave a voice to the africanamerican experience and became the first black woman to win a nobel prize in literature. Among her bestknown works was which was turned into a movie starring oprah winfrey. She was 80 years old. Global news 24 hours a day, on air and tictoc on twitter, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. I am Mark Crumpton. This is bloomberg. David . David thanks very much. China has denied u. S. Charges it is manipulating its currency and overnight in Central Banks acted to strengthen the yuan after allowing it to fall past seven yesterday. For more insight, we welcome isaac boltansky, director of policy research at Compass Point trading in washington. It is good to have you here. There is a point counterpoint. The United States has accused them of currency manipulation. They deny it. Who has the better argument . Isaac i think china has always been a currency manipulator to a degree. It is just we were not happy with the direction it was manipulating in that one instance. The way i view all of this is that designation is more symbolic than substantive. The symbolism matters. It softens the ground for future action that could take the form of additional tariffs, possibly intervening with her own currency, or any of the other tools in the toolbox for the president. David that was going to be my question. Does it signaled the president may follow through on his promise therell be more terms if we do not get concessions past the chinese passed the 10 we are expecting in september . On the chinese side, what is the next move for them . What about things like their reserves . Isaac china is in a tough position. They will have to adjust on their end. Most of us are looking at this situation and recognizing it is Uncharted Waters because it is more expensive than it has been given the currency dynamic. As we all stared at our screens and wait for the next headline, what we have been trying to do is contour the potential positive mile markers and negative mile markers. On the positive side, if we see china continued to maintain a relatively stable currency, that is positive. If we hear headlines of the president planning on talking via phone later, that is positive. On the negative side, if we see a rescheduling of Vice President pence is chinas speech or a critical comment regarding the hong kong protesters, that would be negative. Now it is trying to figure out what the next mile marker czar. This is uncharted. David does the president want a deal . He says he wants a deal. If we are in a position like where we are right now in 2020, does that help him or her him or hurt him . A deal, think he wants he just does not want it right now. He believes the economic realities in the u. S. Are stronger than china. He believes there is political power to the issue, as is evidenced by the left showing some support for the hard line on china as well. Also, i think he believes he has forced the fed to take the dovish stance that he is one of them to take for the entirety of his presidency. David lets talk about the effect of all the trade dispute on the bed. We have had chair powell saying we are taking into account trade uncertainties, and there is a widespread belief because of this trade dispute, we are going to have more cuts than we otherwise were going to have. I am calling up on my screen where markets are pricing things. For september, there is a 35 basis point cut, which says is a cinch we will have a cut in september. How much is the fed paying attention to the trade dispute . Isaac i think the fed is paying attention to all of it, the president ial pressure, trade tensions, brexit, market expectations, all of that plays into the fed thinking, but ive a cautionary note. The next meeting is not for another five weeks. As we know, a lot can change in five weeks, especially given the fact that new cycles are measured in dog years. David we had a remarkable open letter from the fed four former fed chairs, volcker, green spare, bernanke, and yellen saying we must have an independent fed endocrine and decrying the president s threats you may remove chair powell as chair. If the fed is paying attention to possible trade disputes, does he have to do something directly because he can do it indirectly . Isaac that is an important point to highlight. My view is not that the fed is moving because of the president ial pressure, the tweets, the jawboning from the white house. That is not why the fed will move. Towill move because it has given the fundamental reaction to white house policy regarding trade. That is an important distinction to make. The move is not because of twitter. It is because of the market and Economic Impact of the actual policy decisions that weve been talking about. David there has been reporting that the chinese might be trying to wait up President Trump, hoping for a democrat. At the same time ive heard some reporting the chinese are getting a strong message that democrats will not be much easier on them than the republicans. Is this a bipartisan issue because theres a general concern about the way the chinese have been dealing with us . Isaac one of the interesting things to think about is where the ideological spectrum bands around and you see the far left and the far right agree on certain issues, whether that is big bank at big bank bashing, pharma, student loan debt. Another appears to be trade. When you go through some of these points, Chuck Schumer has been calling for china to be designated as a currency manipulator for quite some time. Elizabeth warrens trade plan is being described as an attempt to outflank the president on his trade stands. The reality is we are talking in how thesmic shift u. S. Thinks about its trading relationships, and it is a matter of degree between where the president is now and where the democratic field for president is. David thanks much for being with us. Isaac boltansky of Compass Point research and trading in washington. Opioid distributors propose playing 10 billion to settle claims they helped fuel the countrys opioid epidemic. State and local governments may demand more. They are our companies in the cross old in the crosshairs next, and this is bloomberg. David you are watching balance of power. Im david westin. Time for our stocks of the hour. Today we are looking at a trio companies, which up reportedly proposed paying 10 billion to settle claims they helped fuel the u. S. Opioid epidemic. Kailey leinz is here to tell us all about it. Kailey these are the three biggest drug does to beaters. The bring the drugs to pharmacies. They are accused of ignoring painkillers and illegally file eying illegally flooding states with the drugs. One town in West Virginia received 5 million doses in just 2005 to 2006. That is the kind of data states are looking at when they make these allegations which the companies deny. There are proposing settling the claims for 10 billion. The states are looking for 45 billion. Even if they can reach some agreement with the states, the companies are still facing 2000 suits and more localized areas. Some estimates, when you look at Global Sentiment for all distributors a global settlement could reach 100 billion. David the states have others to go after. What with the student their Balance Sheets of these three . Kailey any kind of settlement would likely be paid out over years and not if not decades. They do have some cash on hand, but not this much. Between 2 billion and 3 billion in cash. That is why is creating such a stir in the market. David and driving the market overall today, taking away from the rally. Great to have you with us. Kailey leinz. Facebook warned of regulatory headwinds when it talked about future earnings and now we hear the fcc may be looking at past acquisitions. It is the source of antitrust asked. Live from the the source of antitrust angst. Live from new york, this is bloomberg. David this is balance of power on bloomberg television. Im david westin. Four bloomberg first word good first word news, we go to Mark Crumpton. More President Trump says farm it could be on the way in addition to 28 billion package announced last month. The move comes after china halted purchases of u. S. Farm imports over the weekend. The American FarmBureau Federation has pressed the president to wrap up the trade war with china. Federal prosecutors are investigating a chain of transactions that allegedly were used to help finance north Koreas Nuclear weapons program. Three chinese banks have been served subpoenas about information about the transactions. The banks have resisted u. S. Demands. The names of the banks have not been identified. China has urged hong kong to stand up to protesters challenging the government, this after yesterdays strike the lead to traffic, mob violence, tear gas, and flight cancellations. I want to warn all those criminals, dont misjudge the situation or take restraint as a sign of weakness. Dont underestimate hong kongs societies develop force for justice in rule of law and order. In hong kong, a prodemocracy lawmaker says beijing is trying to spin the situation to their own narrative. Global news 24 hours a day, onair, and tictoc on twitter, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. Im Mark Crumpton. This is bloomberg. David thanks so much, mark. When facebook announced earnings last month, its cfo said that Revenue Growth would slow because of regulatory headwinds. Now we hear the ftc may be looking into it purchases of instagram and whatsapp. We now welcome jennifer rie, lendr analyst of any trust litigation, and kevin arquit. Have you here. I will start with you, jennifer. Startrts with the with the report that they may go back and take a look at a fresh look of the acquisition of whatsapp, instagram. How far back can they go . Their ability and authority is to look at any deal, whether consummated or not. They can do that. Of the ftc broadly investigating facebook for antitrust violation potential, they will look at any areas where they are getting complaints from rivals, third parties, or consumers. One of those areas is complaints about his past acquisitions. In general, the ftc is loath to go back and review something to say that we looked at it and made a mistake. Through ay had to go clearance process. How can they go back now and say we missed something . Technically they can. The government is free to look at it afterward. In this situation they would have to say, they made a mistake , and they would have a lot of other difficulties. First of all, what is the market . You have to analyze the transaction in terms of the market. There are differences among instagram. It is all social media platforms, youll have to includ e others like snapchat and youtube. Secondly, what is the harm caused by the merger . Antitrust is meant to protect competition. What is the harm . There is a lot of talk about antitrust review investigations right now. If you are facebook, who are you being investigated by . I thought the Justice Department and ftc had divided us up. Now the justices say they are looking at all of them. Seems to be an unseemly turf battle going on between the two. When i was there years ago, there were many sharp elbows, but it was done behind the scenes. At the end of the day, it is very bad for the agencies, capitol hill will not stand for it if they have investigations from two different agencies. It is expensive for the companies, and it doesnt look good. We dont know if anything has been done wrong at all, antitrust issues, but it is interesting in the earnings call, the cfo of facebook specifically said we may have targeting. Th our ad what is the possible issue that either justice or the ftc could be looking into with ad targeting . Jennifer some of that was in response to add in regulation. First facing the general Data Protection regulation, which put some limitations on what they can do with data. Now they are looking at a 5 billion fine and conduct measures that were instituted with the ftc with respect to violating a consent order. Some of that conduct, the requirement that they protect data in certain ways, will limit the ability to use data the way they might have used it before for targeted ads. It could put a damper on their advertising revenues. Underition, they are i investigation, and that means they will be very careful about their conduct across the company, especially with how they use consumers data to target advertising. David this reminds me of microsoft. Not a structural remedy, where you get rid of instagram or Something Like that, but you cannot do things a certain way. That can allow others to compete with them. Can absolutely slow companies down, and with that regulatory cloud hanging over them, you have to think they will take that into account. Ultimately, you may remember, the District Court judge in divestituredged a on that appeal. I dont see him break up here because that doesnt accomplish anything. There might be nondiscrimination clauses or things of that nature but whatever problems there are do not seem to lend itself to a divestiture. David maybe some of these companies are saying, lets take different action to protect ourselves. Google is saying others can come on havingentially bid their Search Engines on our android phones. Jennifer in the eu they have to do that. They were found to be abusing using a dominant position in the browser search in the chrome browser on mobile and other devices. They say we will open up to rivals, a user can search a rival to be a search engine, but they have to bid to be there. There, google, you have to let rivals compete on the merits. You are blocking opportunity. They didnt say you have to give them free access to your products and android. I actually dont think this requirement of bidding is what will get them in trouble. I dont think they will get in trouble. I think the eu will watch this and see how it works in the marketplace and see if it gives rivals some opportunity to be the default engine on more phones than it is now. David specifically from the point of a regulator, how do you decide if you are doing good for society or just lining the pockets of just hundreds of lawyers . The one thing is for sure out of all of this, a lot of lawyers will be making a lot of fees. Kevin typically come in forces that are more and we talk about monopolization cases, and there is a vision reason why a company has done something, that gets a lot of weight. Milliontsapp, 30 followers. Was owned by facebook, now one billion. There is all about value thats been added. You have to measure the benefits as well as the possible cost. David outside the brief, we have new Gatehouse Media with a good deal. I have been asked, how can you have the two largest new super chains in the country without an antitrust problem . Jennifer it depends on how the markets are defined. These will be local markets. There may be some markets where they are not competing at all. Their properties are not. Some that maybe they are, and they will have to divest. David it is hard to find a newspaper with market power. Rie andnks to Jennifer Kevin are quiquit. President trump promised to shake things up and he is keeping his word when it comes to trade with china. Now the question is when the shaking will stop. We will speak to somebody who work closely with the president , anthony scaramucci. This is bloomberg. David you are watching balance of power. Im david westin. Larry treasury secretary summers tweeted yesterday we are at the most dangerous financial moment since the 2009 financial crisis. Earlier this morning, i asked why he said that. Extremely high degree of uncertainty reflected in markets. You see that and all the assets people run to when they are ,cared, going so far up longterm u. S. Bonds, gold, even bitcoin. That is a sign that people are very anxious. They are anxious because there is a growing risk that this trade conflict between the United States and china will broaden and get out of control. David we welcome someone who has worked for the president as the White House Communications director, embraced his progrowth economic policies, anthony scaramucci, founder of skybridge capital. What do you think about what larry said . A lot of uncertainty and danger that this could inflate out of control. He is trying to reference the doctrine of unintended consequences. The trade war spilling over into currency war, which will spill over into an investment cycle nightmare because everyone will now pause. It is not just waiting for the president to make a decision on terrorists, but where do i go for my supply chain, what does it mean for my workers, will i be linking a lot of the end of the year . You have created all of this uncertainty. Real Market Participants we run about 10 billion at skybridge know that you are getting an increase in volatility when you have less liquidity in the markets. Look at november 2 today, gyrating 15 . We are down 7 from last week. A month of may, down 6. 5. Down 14. 20 five from november to december 31 of last year. You are learning that the volcker rule has taken a lot of support trading out of the markets, Balance Sheet capital, so you are volatility, uncertainty. Even though the banks are strong, you could have a fullblown liquidity crisis as a result of all of the policy maneuverings. David you are seeing the effects in the marketplace but there is bipartisan agreement that something needs to be done about china. If you were advising the president today, what would you say . I wrote an oped in the Financial Times last july which basically restated the plan we had in a transition which was to team up with the europeans and collectively bargain with the chinese. That would have represented 46 of the economic out, 600 million people, and both the europeans and americans have trade grievances with china that need to be resolved. Then you could have said, if you are not going to budge, we will start moving tariffs. Here is the predictable glide path of the tariffs. Now because there is uncertainty in the mechanisms and the mechanisms and a lack of protect iflity related to tariffs, you are aci oh of a big corporation, you are reluctant to deploy capital because you are not sure where the administration is going on the tariff train. Weyou said, here is where are in a trade with china, here is the asymmetry deal. If we dont right size it, here is the tariff ladder until this gets right size. That would have been less volatile for the markets. David what about the political effects . We have an election coming up november 2020. Resume ugly, the president does not want to be in this situation then. As you increase the tariffs, that will hurt people in the real world. Anthony its important for people to understand the American Consumer is paying the tariffs, even with the currency devaluation. It is a consumption tax. People making under 100,000 a year are the ones that will be facing the maximum amount of pain. Votinguld corrupt behavior. But if you look longterm, the economic fundamentals are still quite strong. You would be hardpressed to see a scenario where we go into a recession before the election. Moreover, because of the trade and potential currency uncertainty, and you look at the specter of global deflation, it is likely the fed will cut before the end of the year. Doess the president the president have an offramp, does he want and offramp . Anthony he always has an offramp, that is the genius of the president. He could cut a deal. He is a masterful salesman and promoter. He could cut a deal and signal to the world that it is done. Then he has a pretty nice story. He fixed the trading situation in canada, mexico, the chinese situation, disposable income is up for most people. That proverbial question of are you better off today than four years ago . Most people would say yes. Another story that is much more political is these Mass Shootings over the weekend. Areblicans and democrats really captivated by the story and what we need to do about it. Let me play what Pete Buttigieg have to say about this. It struck me the way he put it. Here is something to think about this sunday morning. Is it going to two or idle . If the gun corporation lobby, which is what the nra is, now has people viewing guns as a thing to be loved, protected, i think that is a source of our freedom and power, and a thing to which we are willing to sacrifice human life. Isnt that the definition of a false god . David interesting point that he is making on a sunday to evangelicals. Servedmade the point, he and used a weapon, but it was a tool, not an idol. Can the Republican Party get away from making guns an idol . Anthony i certainly hope so. Every up with guns, friday, my dad was out shooting things. So im a big Second Amendment person, but i think the nra, in my opinion, is an emperor without clothing. It is hard pressed for me to understand why we cannot have background checks, red flag laws, and secure guns more safely, even digitize them, so that only those that own them can use them. So many things that we can do to preserve the integrity of the Second Amendment and keep our children and people that are innocent in a Shopping Mall or walmart safe. What im astonished by is the unbelievable cowardice in the Republican Party, and im a fellow republican, but these guys are a joke, they twist pretzelss into anti every time there is a mass shooting. Why cant we come up with the right policy as opposed to getting into our corners of left and right . I am a Second Amendment person. I want normal people to be able to Recreational Use them, or gone prevent, protect themselves. But this is total nonsense now and hopefully we can solve it. David the president spoke yesterday from the white house, and part of the problem he pointed to was the anger among young men basically. Overwhelmingly men involved in this. Does the president bear any responsibility for his use of language on the subject . Will you modify the way he exposes himself . His own he is communications director, i was only there for a short amount of time. He went through six of them. Only he can answer that. Here is what i would say to the president. He certainly does not bear responsibility for the Mass Shootings anymore then president obama did when those happened during his time, but he can dial down the rhetoric. He can choose his words more carefully, he controls the news cycle and the bully pulpit. As the leader of the free world and what lincoln set about our country, the last best hope for mankind he could be more thoughtful about the way he handles himself at these rallies, or these tweets that as incendiary. Whether you think they are not, why give your rivals that ammo going into 2020 . I hope he tells it that, but it will ultimately be his decision. No one will be able to influence him on that. David what legacy does he want for himself, has he thought about that, and what legacy do you think he will have . He probably does not think about it that much, but it is probably too soon from here. If you step that, he would want there to be more trade symmetry with the world. Growth inant more lower income and middle income families. He would certainly want a safer and more secure world as it relates to our National Defense and our national security, military policy. I think those are the pillars of the president s agenda, but it is too close now. We need 50 years to observe it. What i hope the legacy will not be is that the rhetoric caused a tinderbox to get struck of a lot of racial tension and unnecessary anxiety in the country. I think the president will win one way or another, but lets win with a unity message, rather than one that is divisive. David anthony scaramucci, former White House Communications director, founder of skybridge capital. Michael bloomberg, the Parent Company of bloomberg lp news, is a founder and helps to fund every town for gun safety. Live from new york, this is bloomberg. Is balance of power on bloomberg television. Im david westin. Earlier this morning, i got his big with former treasury secretary Larry Summers about the u. S. Declaring china a currency manipulator. Larry now declaring china to be a manipulator raises the specter of some kind of further , raises the specter of a situation where it will be more difficult to, on grounds of yes tofor china to say u. S. Demands, and therefore, ofses the risks of a cycle financial conflict. Coming at a time when we are already 10 years into expansion. When the fed has already recognized growing risks to the and when,pansion given how low Interest Rates already are, if there were to be a downturn, there is much less room for Monetary Policy to act than has been the case traditionally. Traditionally, there has been room for, and Monetary Policy does act to reduce rates by 500 basis points or more if a recession starts. We are not going to have anything like that kind of room, and that makes the situation more precarious. Larry, you mentioned the designation by secretary mnuchin as a currency manipulator. Was there justification for it . The claim was, in response to the president saying there would be increased tariffs, you saw the pboc weaken the rate for the yuan. No, i dont think there was much justification. Currency manipulation is an issue. We tend to say currencies are being manipulated when few come things are being met. When a country is running a substantial trade surplus. China used to run a substantial trade surplus. It does not any longer. Part of my was interview with former u. S. Treasury secretary Larry Summers today, responding to the fact that he said this was the most dangerous moment in Financial Markets since 2009. Get the latest on Global Politics in your inbox every day. Live from new york, this is bloomberg. Draw from american troops in afghanistan. Would withdraw it exchange for guarantee that afghanistan would not become a haven for other terrorist groups. The jump warning it will target anyone who supports venezuelas resident. He wants president and he wants to impose sanctions to pressure Nicolas Maduro into quitting. The goal is to lock out maduro from the International Financial system. Venezuelas government because u. S. Sink sanctions gangsterism. Ban the would cultivation of cannabis. It will be on Industrial Hemp and medicinal cannabis. The move comes as they tried to thet revenue and offset Global Campaign against tobacco. China responding to major escalation in the trade war by the u. S