The United States may be feeling the pain of tariffs now, but they will hurt China in the longer term, said former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein.
“Tariffs might be an effective negotiating tool,” Blankfein said. “Saying it hurts us misses the point. China relies more on trade and loses more.”
Trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies escalated in the last week. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration raised tariffs on $200 billion worth of imported goods from China to 25% from 10%. In response, Beijing retaliated with duties of up to 25% on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods that are set to take effect on June 1.
In a separate tweet Tuesday, Blankfein said tariffs may cause U.S. buyers to switch their purchases to local or non-Chinese companies. Although that will cause the American side to pay slightly more than they do now, he pointed out that as a result, Chinese companies will lose revenues.