Source: Bloomberg
Speaking on Bloomberg, Carnegie’s Yukon Huang explained that both political and economic trends point to increased protectionist sentiment in the United States and heightened tensions between the United States and China.
Trump’s objectives of economic growth and reduced trade deficits are in some sense contradictory, because economic expansion in the United States will lead to increased imports from China, he said. He added that although protectionist sentiment was reduced temporarily following the Trump-Xi summit in Mar-a-Lago, the release of new trade data and North Korea’s recent behavior will lead to an increased linkage between political and economic concerns and, subsequently, increased tensions.