From Goldman Sachs research, this is Allison Nathan. Welcome to Top of Mind, a podcast that explores

macroeconomic issues on the minds of our clients. It seems like every day, the tensions and the

rhetoric over trade around the world continue to heat up.

From U.S.-China trade negotiations taking a sharp and unexpected turn for the worse over the last month.

These China trade worries are deepening as we get more on how China reportedly backtrack on talks,

and now the president tweets a few moments ago.

To the trade battles opening up on new fronts,

with President Trump's recent surprise threat to impose tariffs on Mexican goods

if the migration crisis at the border continues.

Those tariffs are increasingly a weapon of choice,

one already being used against China and the European Union,

and now it seems against Mexico as well. Mexico shouldn't allow

millions of people to try and enter our country. And they could stop it very quickly. And I think

they will. And if they won't, we're going to put tariffs on. Trade wars and the continuing impact

they have on the global economy and markets are top of mind. Trade has clearly been a major

part of President Trump's agenda, in line with his long-held view, and I mean going back decades,

that America has gotten a raw deal on trade. He first targeted Japan on these issues back in the 1980s,

and now his crosshairs have clearly shifted to China. Here he is giving the State of the Union address earlier this year.

One priority is paramount reversing decades of calamitous trade policies.

So bad.

We are now making it clear to China that after years of targeting our industries and stealing

our intellectual property, the theft of American jobs and wealth has come to an end.

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