Trade War: Update

I know that the trade war between the US and China doesn’t specifically relate to those in the medical profession, but one of the aims of this blog is break down major current events.  A trade war could have a large impact on individuals as some companies will be greatly affected by increased costs of doing business with China other nations. However, as of right now, the trade war has been put on hold, so let’s take a look at what that means and why it happened.  

Trade War on Hold

The US and China have agreed to put on hold the billions of dollars of tariffs that they had put in place.  For companies that have built their business on import/export from China and the US, this is great news as they will be see increased profits due to reduced trade costs.  A big question that still remains is what will happen with ZTE, the large Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer that was caught violating sanctions against Iran and North Korea.  While the president has said he would put them back in business, those negotiating a new trade deal say that a big change is unlikely.

Why It Happened

The trade war was put on hold due to the effort to restructure a trade deal between the US and China.  While no deal appears imminent, both sides are working to create a deal that works at the imbalance of trade between the two countries in an attempt to offset the 200 billion difference.  However, some are saying that simply having China increase buying by that figure won’t bring equality between the two nations until China takes strong actions on intellectual property, cyber theft, and American companies having access to sell goods in China.  Obviously it’s too early to tell what deals will be put in place, but at the very least a halt in the trade war is a good sign.

If you’re curious about how this might affect you or have further questions or comments, leave them below or send me an email and I’d be happy to walk through everything with you.