Trump’s China tariffs find scant support in the market where they do business: AmCham survey
- Some 75 per cent of US firms are opposed to the use of tariffs to resolve the trade dispute, compared with 69 per cent last year, according to a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai
An increasing number of US companies operating in China are opposed to the trade war, which is hurting their business outlook from revenues to investment, according to a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
Some 75 per cent of US firms disagree with US President Donald Trump’s use of tariffs to resolve the trade dispute, compared with 69 per cent last year, the chamber said in its 2019 China Business Report released on Wednesday. Still, almost a quarter thinks the US should use trade and market access reciprocity to achieve a balance in trade.
The chamber surveyed 333 of its 3,000 members for the study.
“The tariffs and the trade tensions are eroding their profits and investments,” said Ker Gibbs, president of AmCham Shanghai. “If the US continues to use tariffs as the primary tool for achieving its trade and investment aims, we risk not only US jobs and company profits, but also giving up the market share in China to European and other international competitors. That market share will be hard to win back.”
Twenty-seven per cent of the respondents see lower revenues in 2019 than last year, compared with 6.1 per cent in 2018. Forty-six per cent of them blame the trade conflict for weaker sales.