"The Chinese have said this before, but it beats the alternative of having China say they are not interested in pursuing any further talks".
Trump's tough line - and his claim that events in Hong Kong are linked to the trade war - follows his insistence over the last week that Chinese negotiators are keener than ever to strike a deal.
Almost half the USA companies surveyed reported having lost sales and market share, mainly as a result of tariffs imposed by both the United States and China, and many cited concerns about their ability to compete given advantages offered to domestic firms.
A slight majority of the companies expect an increase in revenue in 2020, a drop of 26 per cent from the previous year, reflecting uncertainty over tariffs, the trade conflict and a deteriorating market environment, the group said. Now, investors are hopeful that progress might be imminent, even if details are scant, said Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni research.
"Chinese customers are concerned about supply chain links that depend on American companies, which they increasingly view as unreliable business partners as a result of the volatility of the bilateral commercial relationship", said the report that accompanied the survey.
"Losing market share is easy", he said.
Daily October WTI Crude Oil
"The tariffs have put us in an incredible negotiating position and I say that to China directly", President Trump said to reporters Friday.
Craig Allen, president of the council, said he didn't interpret Trump's tweet as pushing American companies that serve the Chinese market domestically to leave the country.
"A lot of companies have left China and a lot more are leaving. And we haven't taken in 10 cents from China", he said.
The survey, taken in June before Trump's call for companies to quit China, showed a majority of USA companies remained committed to the China market and few were divesting existing operations.
Still, not many companies moved operations back to the US.
More than 160 other business groups, including the National Retail Federation, Retail Industry Leaders Association and Association of Equipment Manufacturers, also urged Trump to postpone the tariffs, warning they would hit Americans in the middle of the busy holiday shopping season. Eighty-three percent of respondents said they didn't curtail or stop planned investments over the past year, down from 92% a year ago. 11 per cent said they were moving their Chinese operations elsewhere, with more than half citing rising production costs in China.
Microsoft rolled out Dark Mode in Microsoft Outlook app and Office.com
They also shared the year-long process they undertook to develop the dark mode, which isn't as simple as some people think it is. We had reported that it was soon getting dark mode but now things are official as dark mode begins rolling out today.
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