A December 13 article from Reuters, “Trump’s tough trade talk makes U.S. firms fear China retribution,” features quotes from a number of foreign policy experts, including Professor Alan Deardorff of the Ford School.
According to the authors Nick Carey and Ginger Gibson, President-elect Donald Trump’s aggressive rhetoric toward China is “rattling American companies who have long benefited from stable relations between the two countries.”
Many worry that Trump’s statements, which most recently include suggesting an end to the “one China” policy, risk retaliation from Beijing. Carey and Gibson note that China represents a significant and growing market share for U.S. products, including more than one-third of General Motors vehicles and 2,500 Starbucks stores. The consequences could be felt, they write, by the “over $500 billion in commercial engagements by U.S. companies in China.”
The Ford School’s Alan Deardorff is quoted in the article about what would happen if trade tensions did boil over: “The pain would be widespread and deep,” he says, for U.S. businesses that depend on the symbiotic relationship between the U.S. and China.
The Reuters article was quickly picked up by a number of major news outlets, including Fox Business, and CNBC.
Alan V. Deardorff is the John W. Sweetland Professor of International Economics in the Department of Economics and a professor of public policy at the Ford School; his research focuses on international trade and tariffs.