Kevin Rudd: U.S.-China Economic Warfare would be Unspeakable for the Global Economy
Interview on BNN's Business Day
In an interview on the BNN program "Business Day" on November 30, 2016, ASPI President Kevin Rudd discussed China-Canada economic relations, especially the two countries energy trade and investment relationship. Rudd predicted that Canada would be a reliable crude source for China over time.
Rudd also discussed what the election of Donald Trump would mean for U.S.-China relations. He said that the Chinese are preoccupied with two questions regarding the President-elect: "One, whether he is serious about the imposition of tariffs against Chinese goods, and his stated threat about a 45 percent general tariff. And secondly, his stated intention to bring about a declaration of the Chinese authorities as engaged in currency manipulation. Will that turn out to be campaign rhetoric? Will it turn out to be partial reality or no reality? That's where the Chinese economic lens is focused right now."
A trade or currency war between the world's two largest economies would have a lot of "collateral damage," Rudd said. He warned that "the consequences of all out economic warfare between China and the United States would be unspeakable for the global economy... Anything which, as it were, retarded the Chinese economic growth projection and then further impacted the United States, given the size of the traded sectors of both economies, I think would have a massively deleterious effect on the global economy. So we need to take this very cautiously, very calmly. And I trust and hope that those advising President-elect Trump are able to explain carefully what the consequences of economic warfare might be." (8 min., 3 sec.)