Britain fears that US-China trade tensions endanger the UK economy

Posted by qianjiu on May 13th, 2019

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Hammond said on Friday (May 10) that he hopes the United States and China will be able to withdraw from a trade war that could cause serious damage to the UK and the world economy.

He said: "It is very worrying because the UK is a very open economy, which means that we benefit from positive factors in the global economy, but we are also affected by negative factors. In the past 12 months, due to China Concerns about trade tensions with the United States have intensified, and world economic growth forecasts have slowed down. We all hope that all signs will show that an agreement will be reached. So, in the past few days, when you found out that things seem to have happened When you have a negative change, you will feel a bit hit. I am still optimistic that an agreement will be reached between China and the United States, but of course it may not be achieved."

The United States raised tariffs on Chinese imports worth 0 billion in the early hours of Friday, while the two countries are negotiating to save a trade agreement. Hammond said that raising tariffs is "a blow."

Although the UK's exports to China are relatively small, the United States is the UK's largest trading partner after the EU, and the UK's open economy is vulnerable to the global economic downturn.

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Teresa May told reporters earlier on Friday that Britain is concerned about the US decision to raise tariffs on Chinese imports to 25%.

Official data released earlier Friday showed that the UK's trade deficit in goods and services in the first three months of 2019 hit a record high, dragging down economic growth in the first quarter.

This seems to reflect that companies are absorbing large imports before the UK plans to leave the European Union on March 29. However, gold imports have also seen a surge. Gold imports usually have large fluctuations every month.

Hammond said he believes the UK economy is still expected to achieve an official growth forecast of 1.2% this year.

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