What fuels global trade imbalances: China’s overcapacity or America’s failure to adapt?
Economists highlight the potential for China’s green manufacturing capacity to support the global energy transition, despite overcapacity fears
China’s industrial overcapacity should not be singled out for blame amid trade imbalances, as economies worldwide are struggling to adapt to shifts in the global economy, contributing to mounting pressures, a prominent Chinese scholar said in comments directed at the United States.
“The reason why our imbalance is becoming a bigger problem is that the rest of the world is having a bigger problem in adjusting the economic structure,” said Huang Yiping, dean of Peking University’s National School of Development and an adviser to China’s central bank, on Tuesday.
Huang said Beijing had made progress in reducing external imbalances, with its current-account surplus narrowing from nearly 10 per cent of gross domestic product in 2007 to about 3.7 per cent in recent years. But he acknowledged that more aggressive measures were needed to boost consumption, which remains well below global averages.
“How to work together with the rest of the world is a challenge we face, not just by China, but also by other economic partners,” he said.