Trump tariffs: "I think it's bad for everyone"

CGTN Europe

CGTN  Europe interviewed Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, Chair of the China-Britain Business Council

Transcript

00:00Let's talk now to Sir Sherrod Cooper-Coles, the chair of the China-Britain Business Council.

00:05He's also a former British ambassador to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan and a former director of BAE Systems.

00:13Sherrod, welcome back. Good to see you.

00:15Well, look, you've had a ringside seat at the world's events for decades.

00:19What do you make of all this?

00:22Well, I think it's bad for everyone.

00:25It's bad for exporters around the world.

00:29It's certainly bad for the United States.

00:32The sell-off in U.S. Treasuries show what the markets think.

00:36Normally, Treasuries rise at a time like this if equities are falling.

00:41So it's worrying. It's negative.

00:45It's going to take a long time to unwind it all.

00:49And I think it will have the opposite effect of what President Trump thinks it's going to have.

00:56Many countries appear to be recalibrating their economic alliances, some of them pivoting towards China.

01:05Is this a short-term reaction or do you think we are seeing a long-term geopolitical shift?

01:12Well, we're a week in and it's probably too early to say, but I think many countries are beginning to have doubts

01:23about the reliability of the United States as a trading partner, about the structures of American politics

01:32and the way the American Constitution, which I spent four years in Washington covering American politics,

01:40puts a premium on short-termism and what you need navigating the challenges in today's world is strategic coherence

01:51and strategic patience and the way in which the American Republic is organized

01:57and indeed the way in which it's being operated by the present incumbent in the White House

02:02militates against its really strategic impatience and strategic incoherence.

02:09Just with your hat on, as a former senior advisor at HSBC and the director at BAE Systems,

02:17what do you make of the risks and rewards for Western businesses operating in or pivoting towards China

02:26amidst these rising geopolitical tensions?

02:29Well, I still work for HSBC and I wouldn't want to comment in that capacity, but as chair of the China Britain Business Council,

02:39I think, you know, one of the things our members will be conscious of is what Trump has done in terms of secondary sanctions

02:47and the risk that if they too obviously align themselves exclusively with China, American retaliation will come.

02:57That is something they will be thinking about and worried about.

03:01I mean, most global companies, certainly all our big multinational members, want both hands.

03:08They want to trade with the two greatest economies in the world.

03:11They realize that these economies have complementary strengths.

03:16You know, the way these tariffs have been calculated is a joke

03:21because, you know, it's based on the premise that no country should have a trade surplus with the United States.

03:29And that's against all the theories of comparative advantage and competitive advantage for countries and economies around the world.

03:38You know, the UK, like the US, is strong in services, less strong in manufacturing.

03:45China is strong in manufacturing.

03:47China has many of the technologies of the future.

03:50Britain is strong in, I don't know, pharmaceuticals, luxury goods,

03:56things that the 800 million Chinese middle class consumers want to buy.

04:01So we need to play to each other's strengths.

04:03So I'm going to pause there, but lovely to have you back on the programme

04:07and good to have your analysis.

04:09Sir Sherrod Cooper-Coles, the chair of the China-Britain Business Council.

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