Skip navigation

auto-generated audio
auto-generated audio

Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Overview
  • Hot Topic

Recommendation

At the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, China, in July 2019, a panel of trade and finance experts addressed the question, “Is there still hope that we can actually move beyond this current trade war?” At a June 2019 meeting of the G20, the United States and China called a truce. But by August, amid newly escalating tensions and tariffs, China had refused to buy any US agricultural products, and the Trump administration had planned fresh tariff hikes in return. Thus, this July discussion may well define the zeitgeist for 2019.

Summary

Following a temporary truce in the US–China trade war, uncertainty prevails.

Since 2018, the United States and China have been locked in a trade war. In June 2019, the G20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, achieved a temporary truce, but not a comprehensive agreement for trade. China’s business community had hoped for a trade agreement, though an atmosphere of uncertainty prevailed – largely because the trade negotiations are a knotty problem.

Trade tensions between the United States and China are deep-rooted, extending beyond tariffs and deficits to matters of intellectual property, technology, trade practices and competition for global dominance. Some 18 years of discussion and negotiations since China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) haven’t resolved these issues. Moreover, matters of trade and national security have converged throughout ...

About the Speakers

Charles Li is chief executive of the Hong Kong stock exchange. Economist Mari Elka Pangestu is professor of public finance at the University of Indonesia. Timothy Stratford is a former US assistant trade representative. Yi Xiaozhun is deputy director general of the World Trade Organization. Geoff Cutmore is a financial journalist for CNBC Europe.


Comment on this summary