Labourers at work at a steel plant in Shandong province, China, last July. The US is considering a steep tariff on Chinese steel imports as part of President Donald Trump’s America First policy. Photo: Reuters

Why the US doesn’t have the stomach or the strategy for a full-blown trade war with East Asia

Andy Xie says the US has neither the stomach for a recession nor a coherent industrial policy, the two elements needed to engage in a real trade war with Asia

Topic | Trade

Andy Xie

Published: 2:45pm, 28 Feb, 2018

Updated: 12:58pm, 23 Mar, 2018

Labourers at work at a steel plant in Shandong province, China, last July. The US is considering a steep tariff on Chinese steel imports as part of President Donald Trump’s America First policy. Photo: Reuters

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Andy Xie

Dr Andy Xie is a Shanghai-based independent economist specialising in China and Asia, and writes, speaks and consults on global economics and financial markets. He joined Morgan Stanley in 1997 and was managing director and head of the firm’s Asia-Pacific economics team until 2006. Prior to that he spent two years with Macquarie Bank in Singapore, where he was an associate director in corporate finance. He also spent five years as an economist with the World Bank. He was voted one of the 50 most influential persons in finance by Bloomberg magazine in 2013.