China’s trade with Asia could plug hole left by US tariffs, economists say


China’s growth could drop by as much as one percentage point this year if soaring US import tariffs hold up, but its increasingly deep ties with Southeast Asia can help offset that loss, a regional economic surveillance body said on Tuesday.

US import tariffs of 145 per cent on Chinese shipments will limit expansion of the world’s second-largest economy to a “quite optimistic” 4.8 per cent this year, said Hoe Ee Khor, chief economist with the Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO).

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