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Leading leftist paper expects more of a pillow fight than a trade war
来源： 编辑：编辑部 发布：2018/03/28 14:11:40
THE left-of-centre, anti-Trump London Guardian is expecting more of a pillow fight than a full blown Sino-American trade war.
"US President Donald Trump made a big play of slapping tariffs on Chinese imports, but experts say neither side will risk escalating the current spat," the Guardian said in an editorial.
The Trump administration to pressure China to change its practices, and plans to target 1,300 product categories.
But the damage to China may account for only 0.1 per cent of its GDP. In an advisory note to investors, Capital Economics wrote that existing tariffs will have a "barely perceptible impact" on China's economy. "Targeting US$60 billion of products by the US adds up to only 0.25 per cent to China's GDP last year," the Guardian said.
"China's response has been muted, rolling out just $3 billion in additional tariffs on US goods ranging from fresh fruit, nuts, wine and pork to recycled aluminum and steel pipes," the editorial said.
"US pork producers squealed. The American pork industry [ironically, the biggest US producer, Smithfield, is Hong Kong owned] last year sent $1.1 billion in products to China, making it the No 3 market for US pork," the Guardian said.
Overall, the US farmers shipped nearly $20 billion of goods to China in 2017, Reuters reported.
But missing from China's list of tariffs were key US export items to the US including soybeans, sorghum and Boeing aircraft, the paper noted.
Said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist with the financial advisory company RSM: "Trade friction is a natural state of affairs in the international economy and we're engaged in a spat."
Said the editorial: "Existing measures are unlikely to come close to reducing the annual US-China trade imbalance by $100 billion.
Another indication that the trade war threat is more apparent than real is that when the tariffs are published, US businesses will have 30 days to comment and China will be able to make concessions.
Said Geoffrey Gertz of the Brookings Institution: "There is certainly scope to pursue China through the WTO and there is a lot the US could be doing that we haven't done."
"US President Donald Trump made a big play of slapping tariffs on Chinese imports, but experts say neither side will risk escalating the current spat," the Guardian said in an editorial.
The Trump administration to pressure China to change its practices, and plans to target 1,300 product categories.
But the damage to China may account for only 0.1 per cent of its GDP. In an advisory note to investors, Capital Economics wrote that existing tariffs will have a "barely perceptible impact" on China's economy. "Targeting US$60 billion of products by the US adds up to only 0.25 per cent to China's GDP last year," the Guardian said.
"China's response has been muted, rolling out just $3 billion in additional tariffs on US goods ranging from fresh fruit, nuts, wine and pork to recycled aluminum and steel pipes," the editorial said.
"US pork producers squealed. The American pork industry [ironically, the biggest US producer, Smithfield, is Hong Kong owned] last year sent $1.1 billion in products to China, making it the No 3 market for US pork," the Guardian said.
Overall, the US farmers shipped nearly $20 billion of goods to China in 2017, Reuters reported.
But missing from China's list of tariffs were key US export items to the US including soybeans, sorghum and Boeing aircraft, the paper noted.
Said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist with the financial advisory company RSM: "Trade friction is a natural state of affairs in the international economy and we're engaged in a spat."
Said the editorial: "Existing measures are unlikely to come close to reducing the annual US-China trade imbalance by $100 billion.
Another indication that the trade war threat is more apparent than real is that when the tariffs are published, US businesses will have 30 days to comment and China will be able to make concessions.
Said Geoffrey Gertz of the Brookings Institution: "There is certainly scope to pursue China through the WTO and there is a lot the US could be doing that we haven't done."