After what seemed like a break in the United States’ trade war with China, negotiations between the two countries unraveled last week. President Trump called for new tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, effectively taxing American consumers for buying Chinese products. The U.S. stock market tumbled, and the Chinese currency slipped to an 11-year low, prompting the United States to call China a “currency manipulator.”

“Lo and behold, we’ve got a full-blown trade war and currency war happening simultaneously,” economic policy reporter Damian Paletta says. Although both economies are feeling the pain of the trade war, China might be more willing than the United States to play the long game, he says.

Republican Rep. Kenny Marchant joins Reps. Will Hurd, Michael K. Conaway and Pete Olson as the fourth lawmaker from Texas not seeking reelection in 2020. 

Marchant’s announcement leaves open three U.S. House seats that were previously won by five percentage points or fewer — and brings to 12 the number of House Republicans retiring. That gives Republicans a good reason to be worried, says congressional reporter Mike DeBonis.

Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison has died. Writer Bilal Qureshi says that Morrison, whose best-known works include “Beloved,” “The Bluest Eye” and “Tar Baby,” transformed American literature.