By Alexandra Gibbs, CNBC–

U.S. stock index futures fell into negative territory ahead of Monday’s open, as the trade war between the U.S. and China escalated with further tariffs.

Around 4:40 a.m. ET, Dow futures slipped 29 points, indicating a negative open of -48.50 points. Futures on the S&P 500 were lower, indicating a downbeat open of -5.52 points, while Nasdaq futures dropped, signaling an open of 35.07 points down.

The moves in pre-market trade come after the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 hit record highs during the previous session on Friday.

The latest round of trade tariffs between the U.S and China commenced Monday, with Washington inflicting 10 percent of levied duties on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods; this is set to rise to 25 percent by year-end. China has retaliated, targeting duties on more than 5,000 American goods worth a total of $60 billion.

Coming up Monday, the Dallas Fed’s Texas Manufacturing Outlook survey is scheduled to be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

In the corporate space, investors will likely be digesting the news that Comcast secured a takeover of U.K. broadcaster Sky on Saturday, submitting a much higher bid than Twenty-First Century Fox, in a three-round auction. On Monday, the U.K. broadcaster recommended its shareholders to accept an offer from Comcast, following its takeover offer.

No members of the U.S. Federal Reserve are scheduled to speak Monday. The latest meeting by the Federal Open Market Committee is due to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Analysts are expecting the U.S. central bank to announce a quarter point rate hike Wednesday, and will be paying close attention to the event to see if the Fed provides any signals as to where monetary policy is heading.

No major earnings are scheduled to take place.