Downward spiral of US-China trade spat will hurt Hong Kong, commerce chief Edward Yau warns

Hong Kong also faces ‘unquantifiable impact from spillover’ of the dispute between the US and Europe, Yau says

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Carrie Lam shakes hands with French foreign affairs minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Paris. Edward Yau (second left) also attended the meeting. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:38am, 20 Jun 2018Updated: 2:26pm, 20 Jun 2018

The effects of the escalating US-China trade row could spiral down and hurt Hong Kong, the city’s commerce chief has warned.

Edward Yau Tang-wah, travelling with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on a business tour in Europe, said in a phone interview on Tuesday night that about 17 per cent, or HK$60 billion (US$7.6 billion) worth, of Chinese exports in question passed through the city to the United States, and about 9 per cent, or HK$6 billion, of US exports went to mainland China via the city.

Hong Kong also faced an “unquantifiable impact from the spillover” of the dispute between the US and Europe, which could trigger trade to divert from Hong Kong, he said.

President Xi Jinping and Donald Trump during the US leader’s visit to Beijing last year. Photo: AP

Beijing and Washington are embroiled in a tit-for-tat trade row, with China on Tuesday vowing to use quantitative and qualitative measures to hit back if US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 10 per cent punitive tariff on US$200 billion worth of Chinese products went ahead.

“We are worried about the worsening Sino-US trade dispute, and it is a pity to see that the goodwill the two countries built over the years is being lost,” Yau said from Paris.

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