Yahoo Finance US-China phase one trade deal could unleash global growth: Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman
President Trump’s phase one trade deal with China will undo a burden on global economic growth created by trade imbalances, said Stephen Schwarzman, chairman and CEO of The Blackstone Group (BX).
Escalating conflict between the U.S. and China has impacted worldwide manufacturing and slowed down “the world’s entire growth,” but negotiations have secured a situation that will be universally beneficial, the private equity chief said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“Global growth should not be declining significantly [anymore] as a result” of U.S.-China trade disputes, said Schwarzman, adding that the phase one agreement changed the culture between the U.S. and China.
China “obviously didn’t think it was in their interest… We’ve never had an agreement — bilateral agreement — with this country. There was a reason: They didn’t want one. And now they want one. And so that in itself is a major change,” he said.
Together, China and the U.S. represent 35% to 40% of the world’s economy, accounting for their dominant influence in international growth — and Trump alleviated worldwide strain by addressing trade imbalances among those world powers, said Schwarzman.
“He [Trump] appears to be quite aggressive, and he’s using techniques to try to drive people to the table. And it’s quite difficult to watch that, but it has ended up getting different outcomes… What you have now is a de-escalation of tensions in the trade area [minus] technology,” said Schwarzman. But “in terms of [the global economy] going up, that’s anybody’s guess, because there are a lot of other factors.”
Sarah Paynter is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @sarahapaynter
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.
More from Sarah:
Trump-branded properties lost value since the 2016 election, study shows
Eric Trump on paying contractors: We pay ‘people when they do great jobs’
Trump impeachment is 'very different' from Watergate: Washington Post editor
