*By Carlo Versano*
China is responding to a revelatory [report](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/24/us/politics/trump-phone-security.html?module=inline) in The New York Times ー that said Chinese spies are allegedly eavesdropping on President Donald Trump during calls he makes on an unsecured iPhone ー by suggesting that the president use the device of a Chinese competitor instead.
"If they are very worried about iPhones being tapped, they can use Huawei," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying [told reporters in Beijing](https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/2170177/china-refutes-report-it-spies-trumps-iphone-suggests-he-get-huawei).
Roger Cheng, executive editor at CNET called that "an epic amount of shade" being thrown by the Chinese at the U.S.
It comes after Huawei products were banned from official U.S. government use over concerns they can be compromised by the Chinese government. Huawei phones are effectively useless in the U.S. because of those concerns ー they aren't offered by major retailers or carriers ー even though the handset maker is the second-largest in the world behind Samsung.
"It's a bit of irony that they would throw that [suggestion] out there," said Chen.
The Times reported Wednesday that Trump has dismissed his aides' instruction to use secured phone lines for his personal calls and opted instead to carry at least one iPhone, no different from any other on the market, that he uses to call friends and gossip ー and which Chinese and Russian spies routinely eavesdrop on in an effort to gauge how the president thinks.
But the ability to listen in on cellphone calls has less to do with the specific kind of phone and more to do with the fact that intercepting calls as they bounce around cell towers is a relatively simple element of spycraft "if you have the know-how and the resources," according to Chen. "And obviously the Chinese government has a lot of resources."
The Chinese government spokeswoman dismissed the report that Chinese spies were listening in on Trump as "fake news," using one of Trump's favorite phrases.
Trump called the Times report "soooo wrong!" in a tweet Thursday.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/roger-cheng).
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
