US Pres. Trump held off on Xinjiang Sanctions for China trade deal – Axios

Axios carries a story on Monday, citing an interview with US President Donald Trump a day before, President Trump refrained from imposing Treasury sanctions against Chinese officials’ involvement in the Xinjiang mass detention camps, as that would have jeopardized his trade deal with Beijing.

Trump said: "Well, we were in the middle of a major trade deal. And I made a great deal, $250 billion potentially worth of purchases. And by the way, they're buying a lot, you probably have seen,” when asked why he hadn’t enacted sanctions yet.

"And when you're in the middle of a negotiation and then all of a sudden you start throwing additional sanctions on — we've done a lot. I put tariffs on China, which are far worse than any sanction you can think of,” Trump added, per Axios.

Despite the goodwill gestures from the US President, China has reportedly suspended the US poultry imports from a company called Tyson. China, however, maintained that it's mainly due to the rising spread of the coronavirus in the country once again.

Market reaction

The US stock futures are down half a percent in Asia opening trades, pointing to a negative start on the region’s indices. Fears over the virus resurgence continue to dent the risk appetite while ongoing US-China tensions and UK terrorist attack also weigh.

AUD/USD trades weaker below 0.6850 but manages to hold onto the 0.68 handle while USD/JPY trades flat around 106.85.