Trump orders US companies ‘to immediately start looking for an alternative to China’

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he has ordered American companies to exit China after Beijing unveiled retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. goods, throwing a new twist into the bitter trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

Trump said on Twitter he will issue a response to China’s latest tariff plan on Friday afternoon. The president was meeting with his trade team at midday, a senior White House official told Reuters.

“We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP,” Trump tweeted.

“Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.”

It’s unclear what legal authority Trump would be able to use to compel U.S. companies to close operations in China or stop sourcing products from the country.

The U.S. president said he also was ordering shippers including FedEx, Amazon.com Inc, UPSand the U.S. Postal Services to search out and refuse all deliveries of the opioid fentanyl to the United States.

China on Friday said it would impose retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. goods, targeting crude oil for the first time and renewing punitive duties on American-made autos.

The latest salvo was in response to Trump’s plans to impose 10% tariffs on a final $300 billion list of Chinese-made consumer goods on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15, including cell phones, toys, laptop computers, and clothing.

China’s Commerce Ministry said that on those same dates it will impose additional tariffs of 5% or 10% on a total of 5,078 products originating from the United States including agricultural products such as soybeans, beef, and pork, as well as small aircraft. Beijing is also reinstituting tariffs on cars and auto parts originating from the United States that it suspended last December as U.S.-China trade talks accelerated.

U.S. stocks fell sharply on fears escalation of the trade war could tip the U.S. economy into recession. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite.IXIC was down 2.2%, the S&P 500 index.SPX fell 1.8% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.DJI shed 1.7%. U.S. Treasury yields also fell as investors sought safe-haven assets.

U.S. crude futures were down more than 3%.