BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Here to weigh in, the host of Varney & Co., starts from 9 to noon, and man, everyone's going to be glued to your place because Beijing hit back this morning with additional tariffs on 106 U.S. products. The new charges are targeting goods like soybeans, cars, and whiskey, and they all go together.
STUART VARNEY (HOST, VARNEY & CO.): Would you like to hold on for a moment? These tariffs have not been imposed. They are proposals. The talks continue beneath the surface. Nobody has yet levied a tax on any import coming into America or any export from America going to China. They are proposals only. Yesterday the president detailed $50 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese products coming here. This morning China detailed $50 billion worth of products on our stuff going over there, $50 billion worth of tariffs. So an equal amount of tariffs being levied on both sides. But they are only proposals. All this talk of a trade war, I think, is overblown. What you're actually seeing is very, very tough negotiations going on beneath the surface, which are very serious but tough. The words “trade war” are emotive and suggest something that goes all the way back to Smoot–Hawley in the 1930s or something, I mean an out-and-out trade war that hurts everybody. We're nowhere near that. We've simply made proposals and are discussing a very difficult realignment of America's trade relationship with China. You can expect these negotiations to be very tough, to go on a long time. You will hear all kinds of emotive headlines, but that's what's happening.
AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): That's what I was going to ask you, how long is this going to take? Because people are holding off on retirement until their 401ks are really great. So this doesn't impact a lot of Americans lives, but this is going to go on for months or what --
VARNEY: Oh I would imagine yes.
EARHARDT: Really?
VARNEY: Yes.
KILMEADE: This is impacting our lives, the markets going -- getting hammered.
VARNEY: OK. When the stock market opens this is morning you will see the Dow industrials go down about 500 points. That is a significant selloff, yes it is, but is it an emotional response to the words “trade war”? I think it is. When things sink in a little and no action has thus far has been taken -- by the way, China calls this a commentary period. So they're asking for comment. They know that there is going to be discussion backwards and forwards about these tariffs.
