GOLDMAN SACHS: Staying away from these 20 stocks could help you avoid the pain of Trump's trade war with China and interest-rate hike

REUTERS/Thomas Peter

President Trump takes part in a welcoming ceremony with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

Fears over escalating trade tensions with China and rising US interest rates helped trigger a brutal stock-market sell-off that caused the S&P 500 to lose as much as 7% in October, and both of those issues are showing no sign of slowing down.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday took his latest shot at China, announcing that he is seeking to pull the US out of the Universal Postal Union, which allows Chinese producers to ship items to the US at significantly low rates even compared to some US domestic shipping rates.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's minutes from its September meeting were released on Thursday, showing that policymakers broadly agreed this year's fourth interest-rate hike is coming in December. The Fed's tightening has strengthened the dollar, which has made it more expensive for companies to bring overseas revenue back into the US.

But you don't have to panic. Armed with the right information, you can steer clear of those firms that will be hit the hardest by the stronger dollar and Trump's tariffs. That means identifying and staying away from companies that have high revenue exposure to China.

Goldman Sachs is here to help. The banks maintains an index of US companies that get a large percentage of their sales from China, and filtered 20 stocks it says should take biggest hit in the event of a prolonged trade war.

Here are 20 companies that Goldman listed, in an order from sales least exposed to China to the most.