U.S. President Donald Trump has touted his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the weekend as “far better than expected” — but several trade and investment experts said Beijing appears to have gained the upper hand in the trade war.
Trump and Xi agreed at the G-20 summit in Japan to withhold from slapping additional tariffs on each other’s products as the two sides return to the negotiating table in a bid to finalize a trade agreement. In addition, Trump said he agreed to allow Huawei to purchase U.S. products and China will buy “large amounts” of American farm produce.
“It is looking like, so far, China is coming out as a winner from this G-20,” Francesco Filia, chief executive and chief investment officer at asset management firm Fasanara Capital, told.
“It’s not even clear what they gave up in order to get it,” he said, noting there was a lack of details about what the two leaders agreed on at the meeting.
Filia is not the only one who has expressed skepticism over the U.S.-China trade developments.
Trump standing down on some of his threats to China was “one of the most concerning outcomes at the G-20. It looks as if he obviously gave a lot of ground back to China,” said Danielle DiMartino Booth, chief executive of research firm Quill Intelligence.