Donald Trump likely to keep squeezing China before 2020 election, US experts say

Strategy seems economically illogical at times because it is politically driven, according to experts at US-China trade and economics seminar

Potential ‘phase one’ trade deal would not necessarily ease US pressure on Beijing, they say

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Donald Trump’s stance on China is linked to his bid for re-election next year, experts said. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:00pm, 7 Nov 2019Updated: 11:36pm, 7 Nov 2019

The pressure on China from the Donald Trump administration is likely to continue or even intensify leading up to next year’s US election because the strategy behind its trade war with Beijing is driven by political logic, US financial experts have said.

That is why the strategy may seem economically illogical or even counterproductive at times, according to experts at the US-China trade and economics seminar at Washington think tank the Peterson Institute for International Economics on Wednesday. The event spotlighted deep and growing divisions between the two giants.

“I certainly agree the objectives of the US are confusing,” said Mary Lovely, a Peterson senior fellow. But “on the US side, there is a lot of confusion about Chinese intent and action”, she added.

The Trump administration was likely to reverse its threat to raise tariffs on US$300 billion in Chinese imports on December 15 “not only to give China an incentive [to make concessions] but because the US needs to stop slapping itself on the side of the head”, Lovely said.

That is partly because the next tranche of US tariffs will hit US consumers, computer companies and smaller textile companies hard while doing relatively little to soften Chinese resolve, she added.

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