By Silvia Amaro, CNBC–

  • President Trump threatened Tuesday to impose higher tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing does not make a deal on trade. “If we don’t make a deal with China, I’ll just raise the tariffs even higher,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting.
  • Elsewhere, investors are awaiting minutes from the Federal Reserve’s October policy meeting.

U.S. stock index futures  were lower Wednesday morning.

At around 01:30 a.m. ET, Dow futures rose 41 points, indicating a negative open of more than 49 points. Futures on the S&P and Nasdaq were also pointing to a slightly lower open.

The Dow Jones fell from record highs on Tuesday as investors monitored earnings and developments in the U.S.-China trade talks. There’s mounting uncertainty about a deal between both economies, despite comments last month suggested that they were close to signing a partial agreement.

President Trump threatened Tuesday to impose higher tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing does not make a deal on trade. “If we don’t make a deal with China, I’ll just raise the tariffs even higher,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting.

Elsewhere, President Trump is meeting Apple CEO Tim Cook in Austin, Texas.

Meanwhile, there will be further public hearings related to the impeachment process on President Trump, starting at 09:00 a.m. ET. Speaking Tuesday to Congress, Lt Col Alexander Vindman said that Trump made “inappropriate” political demands from the Ukrainian president.

Elsewhere, investors are awaiting minutes from the Federal Reserve‘s October policy meeting. The U.S. central bank decided to lower the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 1.5% to 1.75% late last month.

There are no major data points due Wednesday.

In terms of earnings, Lowe’s, Target and L Brands are due to report their latest results.