UBS Says Not ‘Enough Pain’ Being Faced By US & China Currently To Strike A Trade Deal

After United States president Donald Trump implemented an increase in trade tariffs on Chinese products and included Chinese telecom manufacturer Huawei in its so called’ entity list’ that banned it from doing business in and with US companies, thye high level trade negotiations between the two countries have broken down.

Last week Chinese authorities said that it was not possible to conduct more talks in the future unless the US adjusts its “wrong actions”. However Trump still appeared hopeful when he said that the two parties could reach a deal “fast.”

Experts however differ in their view of the possibility of a trade deal between the US and China. a complete and comprehensive agreement on trade between the US and China is likely only “just before 2020”, believes Tan Min Lan, Asia-Pacific head of chief investment office at UBS Global Wealth Management.

And according to UBS Global Wealth Management, there is little urge or urgency among both the US and China to come to an agreement on trade because both the countries have managed to avoid a economic slowdown of any significance degree due to the trade war.

The U.S. is “not ready” to come to an agreement on trade with China and sign a deal, but the two parties will have a “great trade deal” some time in the future, Trump said at a media conference on Monday during his state visit to Japan.

“It’s quite clear that trade tensions have re-escalated and at this point in time, there isn’t enough pain on either side for a deal to be imminent,” Tan said in a television interview on Monday. “If you look at United States, actually the economy is quite strong … On the China side, we know that it is able to at least stabilize the economy.”

O9ver the last few months, repeated positive signals were being give by trade representatives from both Washington and Beijing about the trade talks before trade went off road in recent weeks. The act of a sudden increase of tariffs by Trump from 10 per cent to 25 per cent on $200 billion worth of Chinese products was accompanied by accusations of the US president about China going back on promises it made earlier. In retaliation, China also increase import tariffs on US goods worth $60 billion.

But according to Tan, there still remain some incentives for both the countries to eventually come to a trade deal. Tan said that Trump’s chances of getting re-elected in 2020 would be boosted by a trade agreement with China while further economic uncertainties would be desired to be eliminated by the Chinese leadership.

“So, our sense is that you’ll still get a deal probably just before 2020,” she said. Any trade deal between the U.S. and China should be viewed as a “win-win” for Beijing and not as a ploy of America to curb the rise of China.

The current global environment is conducive for fixed income according to J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

“At this point in time, we’re building a portfolio with fixed income as a foundation especially with global high-yield corporate debt, as well as selected emerging market fixed income as a starting point. Then we will add on top of that some selected markets in equities,” Tai Hui, chief Asia market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, said in a TV interview.

(Adapted from CNBC.com)



Categories: Economy & Finance, Geopolitics, Regulations & Legal, Strategy, Sustainability, Uncategorized

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