US-China Trade Tensions Escalating Ahead of G20 Summit
“U.S.-China economic tensions continue to move towards greater levels of confrontation,” says Asia Society Executive Vice President Jamie Metzl. “Last week the Chinese government, concerned that the U.S. might label China a ‘currency manipulator’ based on China’s actual manipulation of its currency, warned the U.S. about scapegoating China for America’s economic woes. This week, in response to an American investigation into Chinese government subsidies to its clean energy sector, a senior Chinese economic official warned that Washington ‘cannot win this trade fight.’ With the Seoul G20 Summit just around the corner, plans for American ‘quantitative easing’ that could dilute the value of China’s dollar holdings, and naval tensions growing in the South and East China Seas, the conditions for a trade war and for a less cooperative US-China relationship are growing fast. For the world’s sake, this trend must be reversed.”
Jamie will be in Seoul during the G20 summit, when Asia Society will release a new high-level task force report on Asian economic integration on Nov. 9 – details to come.
To talk to Jamie, or to receive an advance copy of the report in early November, feel free to contact Asia Society’s New York press office at 212-327-9271 or [email protected]