Fears of a US-China trade war have already put a damper on business investment between the two countries, even as the Trump administration considers imposing strict restrictions on Chinese acquisitions of US companies, according to a new report.
Two-way foreign direct investment between the world’s two largest economies dropped by a third last year to $43bn as trade tension started to rise, the Rhodium Group, a consultancy that tracks investment flows, said in a report released on Tuesday.
It appears likely to dip again in 2018, said Thilo Hanemann, one of the report’s authors. In the first two months of this year, Chinese investment into the US had reached only $1.2bn, a major fall from recent years with the pipeline of potential deals also the lowest seen in years, he said.