Investing.com - The dollar slipped lower on Monday amid renewed trade jitters after U.S. President Donald Trump made another twitter intervention into the current trade dispute with China.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.26% to 89.60 by 09:07 AM ET (13:07 GMT).
The dollar weakened and U.S. stock futures came off their best levels of the day after Trump complained about “stupid trade” practices allowed by his predecessors.
Trump said in a tweet that when a Chinese-made vehicle is sent to the U.S., the tariff is only 2.5%, while American cars exported to China are slapped with a 25% tariff.
The tweet added to fears over the prospect of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies, which investors fear will deal a blow to the global economy and U.S. growth.
The dollar gave back earlier gains against the yen, with USD/JPY last at 106.92, little changed for the day. The safe haven yen tends to be sought out by investors during times of political or economic uncertainty.
The euro rose to the day’s highs against the U.S. currency, with EUR/USD rising 0.29% to 1.2316.
Sterling also rose to the days highs, with GBP/USD climbing 0.42% to 1.4146.
The Canadian dollar was flat, with USD/CAD last at 1.2781.
Mexican economy minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Monday that conditions weren't in place to announce a deal on the North American Free Trade Agreement this week, as investors had hoped, but added that there is an 80% of an agreement in principle by May.