Protectionist policies laid out by the Trump campaign point to hard times ahead for Hong Kong and China
President-elect Trump did not make clear an official doctrine on trade with China, but his campaign speeches offer clues to a more inward looking and protectionist America
If Donald Trump, the president-elect of the United States, follows through on his campaign rhetoric alluding to unfair trade practises, China and particularly Hong Kong will suffer economically, analysts say .
In the course of the campaign, Trump said that he would label China a currency manipulator, and impose a punitive tariff of 45 per cent on Chinese imports into the US. In a separate reference on global trade, the Republican candidate said he would impose a 35 per cent tariff on imports from Mexico.
“This could produce a trade war,” said Bank of Singapore’s chief economist Richard Jerram.
In the first presidential debate on September 26, Trump said: “You look at what China’s doing to our country ... they’re devaluing their currency and there’s nobody in our government to fight them ... They’re using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China.”
Such views have now been endorsed by American voters.
