(Bloomberg) -- U.S. equity index futures tumbled along with China’s currency after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro commented about the trade deal between the two countries in a Fox News interview.
Contracts on the S&P 500 Index were down 1.5% at 9:45 a.m. Hong Kong time. The offshore yuan dropped as much as 0.4%. Futures on brent crude, the global benchmark, lost as much as 1.8% to $42.30 a barrel.
When asked about progress on the trade deal, Navarro responded “it’s over” without specifying whether the entire deal signed in January was invalid. China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“If the comments are true, the development would imply a re-escalation of China-U.S. tensions across the board,” said Ken Cheung, chief Asia currency strategist at Mizuho Bank Ltd. “Any renegotiation will be difficult before the U.S. election. The return of a trade war between the world’s largest economies would jeopardize the global economic recovery.”
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