Since his election back in 2016, it’s safe to say that Trump’s Twitter account has been the source of a fair amount of controversy. In just 280 characters, the President of the United States has caused insult to immigrants, travellers, NFL players and more, as well as true damage to his own integrity and potential law cases. While his supporters rally to Twitter to show their agreement with his thoughts, there’s no denying that the President’s Tweets sometimes have an adverse effect and one of the most staunchly affected industries is the financial one.

Trump’s tweets are so often badly responded to, that the financial markets tend to see drops and fluctuations before the reaction can even take place. In fact, the sheer speed of fluctuation in the financial world today as a result of political unrest has shown us one too many times that being prepared in trading is key. Whether it’s getting to grips with the market using a demo account or doing a spot of copy trading, you certainly wouldn’t be alone in approaching today’s markets with caution. We’re digging a little deeper into just what Trump’s announcement has done, and why China are retaliating.

Trump’s Tweets

At the start of August, the USD appeared to be performing pretty well. The Federal Reserve announced a cut to interest rates, which ultimately helped the dollar withstand it’s position against other currencies in the foreign exchange market. Touting weak global demand and therefore weak inflation as the reason for the cuts, the Fed’s move actually worked in favour of the USD following a reassurance by Chair Jerome Powell that this cut was not the start of a long line of recession-style moves. Of course, this positive domination would only last so long.

On Thursday 1^st August, Trump took to his beloved Twitter account to announce new tariffs on Chinese goods. In a series of Tweets, the President said:

“Our representatives have just returned from China where they had constructive talks having to do with a future Trade Deal. We thought we had a deal with China three months ago, but sadly, China decided to re-negotiate the deal prior to signing. More recently, China agreed to buy agricultural product from the U.S. in large quantities but did not do so. Additionally, my friend President Xi said that he would stop the sale of Fentanyl to the United States – this never happened, and many Americans continue to die!”

“Trade talks are continuing, and during the talks the U.S. will start, on September 1st, putting a small additional Tariff of 10% on the remaining 300 Billion Dollars of goods and products coming from China into our Country. This does not include the 250 Billion Dollars already Tariffed at 25%. We look forward to continuing our positive dialogue with China on a comprehensive Trade Deal, and feel that the future between our two countries will be a very bright one!”

Of course, the positive sign off was quickly proven to be false when both China, and the Forex markets reacted poorly. Asian share prices plummeted in trade markets, with the Tokyo Nikkei down 2.3%, the Kospi in Seoul was down 0.8% and the ASX200 in Sydney even fell 0.3%, despite reaching an all-time high earlier in the week.

For the U.S, this means that the USD also fell, sending stocks in Europe and the US into turbulence as the week drew to a close. The proposed tariffs would ultimately mean that most of China’s exports would be covered, pushing up prices for the consumers and, as expected, this hasn’t set well with U.S citizens.

China’s Retaliation

As a result of this announcement, the trade war appears to have heated up with China releasing their own retaliatory changes. With reports that the country has halted all US agricultural imports, this will be hitting at a sensitive issue for both countries.

In June, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the G-20 summit, where Trump claimed he had secured a large quantity of agricultural purchases. However, when these purchases reportedly didn’t happen, he went on to accuse them of not going through with their word and, as a result, introducing these new tariffs.

However, China have claimed that Trump’s accusation is false. Bloomberg News reported that China has stated they are waiting to see how trade negotiations continue in the future, essentially taking a careful stance before making any purchases. Despite this claim, Trump has gone ahead with the tariff changes regardless, causing China to respond in kind.

Another potential retaliation has come in the form of offshore trading of the Chinese Yuan changing hands at 7.0304 against the U.S Dollar, a sharp weakening compared to it’s previous performance. China’s central bank have previously stated that they are able to keep the currency relatively stable, and so this sudden drop appears to be a bit of a retaliatory move.

Trump has responded to this currency move, accusing China of currency manipulation, and stating that this will “greatly weaken China over time”. However, if the move is as controlled as Trump believes it is, this weakness could all just be a verbal attack with little substantial backing.

Regardless of whether you believe China have moved their currency purposely, whether you’re a supporter of the Trump administration, or this all feels like a bit of a headache, the speed at which the U.S financial markets are changing is something we need to be paying attention to. Regardless of whether you’re a seasoned trader or you’re just interested in the forex market, make sure you watch this space.

When Johnathan M. Holifield talks about future opportunities for HBCUs, he inevitably finds a way to bridge the past to the present, even as he looks toward the future.

For Holifield, the executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, these storied institutions are national treasures that can undoubtedly attract continued investment because of their competitive edge and assets.

“We preserve national treasures,” says Holifield, sitting inside his office located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building — home to the headquarters of several high-profile Trump administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence. “However, we invest in assets, things that we believe will offer a return, that will grow over time. Our institutions are both national treasures and competitive assets.”

As Holifield prepares to mark his second year as head of the Initiative in October, the former NFL player, turned lawyer, entrepreneur and civic leader has won widespread praise for his ability to focus attention on HBCUs and forge significant public and private partnerships that have helped to raise the profile of many of these vulnerable institutions.

“I’ll be honest, I wasn’t convinced that he was the right pick at all when I heard that he was the guy who would lead the Initiative,” says one HBCU president who asked to remain anonymous but has been a staunch critic of President Trump. “But I have been pleasantly surprised and impressed. He’s a creative thinker who seems willing to try and experiment with some new approaches and he does not appear to be a partisan hack.”

Since taking the job, Holifield has barnstormed the nation, visiting 14 of the 19 states that have at least one HBCU. In the process, he has participated in conferences, convenings and brainstormed with college presidents and state officials on how best to hone the competitive advantages and spirit of these historic institutions that mostly emerged in the years following slavery.

“Our institutions are the product of a painful history, America’s original sin,” says Holifield. “We shall never forget that. But they also hold promise for a future America where more Americans are achieving educationally and economically, contributing to where we’re going.”

Even so, Holifield “can put us in the game but he can’t play for us,” quipped one college president about the role of the executive director of the Initiative, which was started in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan.

“At the end of the day, the institutions — not withstanding their excellent advocacy organizations — the institutions themselves are their best advocates,” says Holifield. “In some ways, investing in our institutions is kind of like voting. The franchise is a unique instrument, particularly for those who struggle for the franchise. At once, it pays a debt, honors the debt and those struggles, and at the same time, it makes an investment in the future. That’s what our institutions are. They honor the past, but there is an expectation of future return to our nation as well and that’s a unique kind of characteristic.”

The HBCU impact

Although Holifield never attended an HBCU, he came to learn much about the value of these institutions, primarily from his grandfather, the Reverend Lieutenant Beecher Campbell, Sr.

In his hometown of Romulus, Michigan—the small city sandwiched between Detroit and Ann Arbor — Holifield listened as his grandfather recounted his experience in the early 1900s working on the grounds of what was then Tuskegee Institute, the agricultural college founded by Booker T. Washington.

Although the self-taught preacher never enrolled at Tuskegee, he developed an acquaintance with Washington and when the Great Migration took hold in 1920, he headed north to Michigan in search of a better life and more opportunities.

“Without the presence of then-Tuskegee Institute, what would my grandfather have done? Would my family be here?” asks Holifield. “And that’s part of the less-known story of a kind of diaspora impact that our institutions have had. We less appreciate this multiplier, this exponential impact of having these institutions in our history and what they enabled far beyond the classrooms. It’s a wonderful complimentary narrative of impact.”

There was an expectation that Holifield and his brother and cousins would go on to pursue a college education. In fact, Holifield’s two aunts had gone on to earn advanced degrees and became schoolteachers, while several other relatives became preachers.

As captain of his high school football team, Holifield had his sights on the University of Michigan or Michigan State University, believing that he could compete as an athlete at a Division 1 institution despite his team’s lackluster performance on the field.

“We lost every game. We were 0-9,” he says with a hearty chuckle. “We lost one game, 64 to nothing. We were terrible.”

Despite the losses, his high school basketball coach sent film to West Virginia University of Holifield playing, and the university invited the youngster to come to campus as a walk-on.

In January 1983, Holifield boarded a Greyhound Bus in Detroit to make the six-hour trek to Morgantown, West Virginia.

“I’m going to get you a roundtrip ticket in case this doesn’t work out,” Holifield recalls his mother telling him before he boarded the bus.

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