Trump wants US firms back from China - Arthur Kroeber

Arthur Kroeber

The focus has been on the Chinese government after US president Donald Trump announced new tariffs. But that might be wrong, says economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know to CNN. What Trump wants is not getting China into negotiations, but forcing US companies to come back to the US.

CNN:

Several previous rounds of talks between the two sides have failed to make progress. Analysts are skeptical China will be willing or able to do enough to satisfy the Trump administration on some of its key concerns, including Chinese efforts to get hold of US technology and Beijing's ambitious industrial policies. 

"The principal objective of the tariffs is probably not to bring Beijing to the bargaining table," Arthur Kroeber, a senior analyst at research firm Gavekal said in a note Tuesday. "Rather, it is to force US multinational companies to pull back their investments in China, so that the interdependence of the two rival economies is reduced." 

"Against this aim," he added, "no possible offer by China can cause the tariffs to be lifted."

More in CNN.

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