US President Donald Trump on Friday ordered a probe into the actions of Chinese companies listed on American financial markets as tensions flared anew between the world’s two biggest economies. The announcement followed Beijing’s move to implement a new security law on semi-autonomous Hong Kong that critics say would stifle freedom, as well as with Trump’s claims that China obfuscated the origins of the coronavirus that has killed more than 100,000 people in the United States. “I’m instructing my presidential working group on financial markets to study the differing practices of Chinese companies listed on the US financial markets with the goal of protecting American investors,” Trump said, without providing details on what steps his administration might take.
