Stock market crash could force ‘Tariff Man’ Trump to surrender trade war to China: Ex-White House official

A former Trump White House official is predicting that President Donald Trump will back off his trade war with China after watching the stock market plunge in December.

The official, speaking with Politico, said that Trump's obsession with keeping the Dow Jones Industrial Average high will sap his will to wage a trade war with the Chinese.

"I think Trump the Dow Jones Man is ultimately going to eat Trump the Tariff Man," said the official.

Trump-backing economist Stephen Moore, meanwhile, agreed that the Dow's crash could eventually sway Trump, although he said that it would be unwise to underestimate how determined he is to beat China.

"If the stock market fell another 1,000 points it would give him pause," he explained. "He does love a bull market and hates a bear market. But he also feels this is the fight of our lifetime."

The Dow has fallen by 1,000 points in December, its worst performance in the month since December 1931, when the United States was at the height of the Great Depression.