U.S.-China trade talks hit a snag when President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to raise tariffs on Chinese goods - just as an agreement had been said to be “possible” by this Friday.
However, according to the vice president of a Beijing-based think tank, there is still room for China to “maneuver around the headwinds created by the U.S. trade war” - including if the Trump institutes his threatened tariff increase.
“The trade war really has a negative impact on the Chinese economy - there is no denying of that,” Victor Gao of the Center for China and Globalization told.
“However, how much that impact is and whether China as a whole can come up with ways to overcome the impact, that’s another thing,” he added. “China is still enjoying 6% to 6.5% GDP growth, which is more than double the GDP growth of the United States.”
Still, Gao said, it will be in Beijing’s - and Washington’s - favor to strike a deal sooner rather than later.
The think tanker said both governments should “really calm down,” and he warned that bluffing was unlikely to reap dividends in the ongoing negotiations.