But Mr Trump’s most incendiary claims are reserved for China. The Communist Party, he says, “has subsidised and otherwise incentivised” Chinese firms to “export fentanyl and related precursor chemicals that are used to produce synthetic opioids sold illicitly in the United States”.

By Jarrett Renshaw, Daphne Psaledakis and David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said the sweeping tariffs that he has imposed on Mexico, Canada and China may cause "short term" pain for Americans as global markets reflected concerns the levies could undermine growth and reignite inflation.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 622 points, or 1.4%. S&P 500 futures dropped 1.6%, while Nasdaq-100 futures lost 1.7%. Futures on the Russell 2000, the small-cap benchmark, lost 2.1%. The Cboe Volatility Index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, briefly spiked above 22 before trading around 20.