China is better prepared to handle the potential impact of possible new tariffs threatened by the Trump administration as the country is now focusing on strengthening its domestic market and developing its high-tech sector, a former official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday.
Zhu Min, a former deputy managing director of the IMF, was speaking at a sub-forum held as part of the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meetings in Davos, Switzerland.
The five-day meetings have gathered around 3,000 participants from various regions and industries around the world under the theme "Collaboration for the Intelligent Age," highlighting the need for greater collaboration against a backdrop of rapid technological advancements and global divisions.
Wednesday's sub-forum, co-hosted by WEF and the China Global Television Network (CGTN), was titled "Decoding China's Economy: Present and Future," and saw discussions turn to how the policies of the newly-inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump could impact the global economy.
In response to reports on Tuesday that Trump was considering imposing a 10-percent tariff on goods imported from China as soon as Feb. 1, Zhu stressed that the best way for the world's largest two economies to engage is always through cooperation, not confrontation.
"I think there's huge room for these two countries to work together and create a huge benefit for both countries. It's much, much better than two countries fighting with each other, [where we] have a winner or loser. We even don't know who will win, who will lose," he said.
Zhu also pointed out that despite significant challenges during Trump's previous term in office, which saw a major trade war erupt between China and the U.S., China still managed to keep a trade surplus of around 350 billion U.S. dollars with the U.S. due to its strong export capacity and economic resilience. Looking ahead to what we can expect during "Trump 2.0", Zhu said China is now better prepared to navigate external challenges like tariffs and can double down on strengthening its own competitiveness.
"I will say China understands much better now. So, I think the whole strategy is to make sure we do our own business well and right. And now we focus on the economic side, more on domestic consumption, more on the manufacturing, sort of digitalization and more on the green transformation. So, more on domestic market, more on the tech, making sure we focus on domestic market, we focus on competitiveness. Regardless what happened outside China, we will be able to survive," he said.
China better prepared to handle possible Trump tariffs: former IMF official
