Steven Mnuchin says US-China decoupling will occur if American firms cannot compete fairly
- Treasury secretary says he has ‘every expectation’ that China will live up to terms of phase one trade deal
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that a decoupling of the US and Chinese economies will result if American companies are not allowed to compete on a fair and level basis in China’s economy.
Speaking at a virtual event sponsored by Bloomberg and Invesco, Mnuchin said he also had “every expectation” that China would live up to the terms of the phase one trade agreement calling for a massive increase in Chinese purchases of US goods, energy and services.
“If we can compete with China on a fair and level playing field, it is a great opportunity for US businesses and US workers, as China has a large, growing middle class,” he said. “But if we can’t participate and compete on a fair basis, then you are going to see a decoupling going forward.”
Switching to the coronavirus epidemic in the United States, Mnuchin said he hoped to have the next aid package passed by both chambers of Congress in July, and that while negotiations had begun, there was no need to rush because there were still hundreds of billions of dollars undistributed from the last bill, passed in March.
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