Chinese leaders worry about the future

Companies in the front line of the US-China trade war are worried about what will follow.

Leaders of a World Economic Forum event in Tianjin, a city in northern China, have digested the dramatic escalation of the conflict this week. Some seem relaxed, others worried, while others hope the best.

The Trump administration on Tuesday launched its biggest tariff barrage against China. In a few hours, Beijing said it would retaliate with more tariffs.

"This series of tariffs will cause even more damage to US companies," said William Zarit, president of the US Chamber of Commerce in China.

The head of Coca Cola (KO) In China, Curtis Ferguson is still not worried about the impact on his business. Its supply chain is local and it does not expect Chinese consumers to stop buying Coke as they boycotted South Korean products during a political conflict between Beijing and Seoul last year.

"If it was a map for China, I think they would have played that one," he said. The vast majority of Coca-Cola's 50,000 employees in the country are Chinese and the targeting of the company could jeopardize jobs, he added.

But Ferguson is also concerned about what could be around the corner.

"Businesses do not like uncertainty, we are for free trade," Ferguson told CNN on the sidelines of the meeting in Tianjin. "I do not know how bad things are."

Although US imports are looking for new tariffs, China could find other ways to make life difficult for global brands.

According to a recent survey conducted by two US-based chambers of commerce, US companies operating in China have already reported increased difficulties, including delays in customs and new inspections by regulators.

Some companies, such as Japanese drink groups Suntory, (STBFY) already feel the financial difficulties.

CEO Takeshi Niinami said the trade war was an "immediate threat" to the company's bottom line.

"We have huge investments in the United States where we produce bourbon exported to other countries," he said at a round table on Wednesday.

The company is now facing tariffs on its exports from the United States to China and the European Union.

"The entire global supply chain is facing aggressive US sanctions," said Niinami.

Others are looking anxiously what the conflict may mean for Chinese market entry projects, even if there is little that they can do to prevent them from entering the Chinese market. to be caught between two fires.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) wants to take advantage of Beijing's efforts to open up its financial sector and recently asked to start a brokerage in the country.

To the question of knowing he was worried that Beijing would approve the project because of the trade war, JPMorgan China's CEO, Mark Leung, said that "it was not under our control ".

The bank is "working constructively" with regulators, and is still hoping for a license soon, he added.

Trade experts expect of China a war of attrition with the United States. A resolution could be far away.

"Finally, there will be a negotiated solution," said Wendy Cutler, Vice President of the Asia Society Policy Institute think tank.

This could imply that China mitigates some parts of its industrial policy, which, according to the US administration, facilitates the theft of intellectual property. "Both parties will have to be flexible," said Cutler.

Ferguson of Coca-Cola has suggested a more original way of repairing the relationship.

"Trump seems to have understood Twitter (tWTR)but I think he needs to get WeChat and talk with President Xi, "he said. Ten cents (TCEHY) Popular Chinese social network application.

CNNMoney (Tianjin, China) First published on September 19, 2018: 11h02 ET