Investing.com - U.S. futures were lower on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump reignited the U.S.'s trade war with China by saying he would impose tariffs on the remainder of U.S. imports from China from September.
In a series of tweets on Thursday, Trump said he would levy a 10% charge on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, effective on September 1.
The announcement was made just a day after trade talks between the U.S. and China in Shanghai ended without any progress, and a day after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said that the trade conflict represents the biggest risk to the U.S. economy.
On Friday Beijing promised to retaliate. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said the country would take “necessary countermeasures ” if the tariffs are put in place.
Nasdaq 100 futures fell 36 points or 0.5% by 6:24 AM ET (10:24 GMT), while Dow futures lost 41 points or 0.2% and S&P 500 futures were down 6 points or 0.2%.
Second-quarter earnings reports still continue to flow in. Results from Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Arconic are expected before the morning bell.
Payments company Square (NYSE:SQ) fell 9% in premarket trading after it lowered its forecast for earnings in the third-quarter. Royal Bank of Scotland (OTC:RBSPF) slipped 4.7%, while Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) was down 2.1% and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) dipped 2.5%.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) declined 2.4% after it was hit with another lawsuit over a fatal autopilot crash.
Elsewhere, medical cannabis company Aphria (TSX:APHA) surged 29.4% after posting a surprise profit in its fiscal fourth-quarter, while Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) jumped 16.7% after reporting strong user numbers, hitting 300 million for the first time.
SurveyMonkey (NASDAQ:SVMK) gained 11.5% after naming its first chief information officer in an attempt to gain more corporate customers.
On the economic front, nonfarm payrolls data is released at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT), while factory orders and the Michigan Consumer Sentiment come out at 10:00 AM ET ( 14:00 GMT).
In commodities, crude oil rebounded 2.5% to $55.30 a barrel after falling more than 7% on Thursday in response to Trump's threats. Gold futures gained 1.1% to $1,448.35 a troy ounce.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, hit a new two-year high overnight but gave up most of the gains it made on the back of Trump's comments to trade at 98.072, compared to 97.838 immediately beforehand.