Survey: US companies in China affected by tariff war

BEIJING (AP) – Two-thirds of US companies in China said they had been hit by the spiral of the US-China tariff war, two chambers of commerce said on Thursday, calling on Washington and Beijing to resume negotiations to crack down. ;regulations.

According to the US Chambers of Commerce in China and Shanghai, more and more companies say they will suffer if President Donald Trump raises tariffs on Chinese imports by $ 200 billion.

In addition to tariffs, companies say China is responding by slowing down customs clearance and stepping up inspections and other bureaucratic procedures, the chambers said.

The report adds to the evidence of rising costs and disruptions due to the conflict between the two largest traders in the world. Forecasters have warned that they could reduce global economic growth by 0.5 percent by 2020 if all threatened tariff increases continue.

"US companies suffer from both Chinese retaliatory tariffs and, ironically, US tariffs designed to harm the Chinese economy," the two groups said in a statement. "AmCham China and AmCham Shanghai urge both governments to return to the negotiating table."

Both parties have imposed 50% tariffs on the $ 50 billion property in the dispute over US complaints that Beijing is robbing or pressuring companies to surrender the technology. US officials say that plans to create Chinese champions in the field of robotics and other fields led by the US State are violating their commitments to open markets and they are worried about US industrial leadership.

Beijing has released a $ 60 billion list of US imports in retaliation if Trump's next price hike continues.

The president of the US Chamber of Commerce in China warned that the Trump administration may underestimate China's determination to defend itself.

"The US administration runs the risk of a spiral of attack and counter-attack, which benefits no one," said William Zarit in his statement.

To avoid tariffs, 30% of US companies plan to move the assembly out of the United States or China or find new suppliers, said the chambers. They said nearly one-third planned to cancel or postpone investment decisions.

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China also said on Thursday that one in six members responding to an investigation is delaying its investments or expansion. He said the conflict "is causing major disruptions in global supply chains".

China is short of US imports for retaliation because of its imbalanced trade balance, but has threatened unspecified "global measures" in June. This has raised concerns because it would use regulatory controls to disrupt business operations in China.

Another group of companies, the American-Chinese Business Council, said this week that the Chinese authorities have announced that they postpone the acceptance of US companies' applications for licenses in financial services and other fields until the relationship improvement.

The two governments have given no indication of any plans for further talks since the envoys met in Washington on 22 August but have reported no progress.

Nearly 63.6% of the more than 430 companies responding to the US Chambers survey said that US tariffs and consumer demand had dropped thanks to US tariffs and that 62.5% had expressed the same opinion about Chinese tariffs.

Some 74.3 percent of those surveyed said they would be affected if the $ 200 billion increase in Chinese goods from Washington continued. Some 67.6% of them said the same thing about China's proposed retaliatory tariffs on US $ 60 worth of goods.

The survey was conducted between August 29 and September 5.

Some 52.1 percent of companies said the Chinese authorities were slowing down customs clearance, increasing inspections, or imposing other "qualitative measures."

The European Chamber said that about 5% of the companies reported having relocated their production from the United States and that about 7% of them left China.

This shows "that neither of the two parties is" winning "" because "both are also likely to lose businesses," the room said.

China has unsuccessfully tried to recruit Germany, France, South Korea and other governments as allies against Washington. Some of them have criticized Trump's tactics, but many blame the United States for complaining about the Chinese market barriers and industrial strategy.

"We share US concerns about China's trade and investment practices, but further tariff escalation is extremely dangerous," Mats Harborn, president of the European chamber, said in a statement.