When the U.S. escalated the trade war by slapping tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods last September, China's economy was struggling and its stock market was in a deep slide, giving the U.S. a seeming advantage in a trans-Pacific trade rift.
Trade friction and tariffs have put a dent in both economies, and show up in record trade deficits between the U.S. and China. But China's wobbling economy may be perking up. Manufacturing data this week showed that activity was expanding again. Strategists say the role of the stock market has become an important factor in trade negotiations, after the 14 percent dive in the S&P 500 in the fourth quarter and the 25 percent decline in Shanghai stocks for all of 2018. The U.S. stock market bottomed in the final week of December, and shortly after Trump announced progress in talks with Beijing. Shanghai and Wall Street stocks have both moved mostly higher since then, and the two sides have stayed at the negotiating table.
For the U.S. economy, meanwhile, second quarter growth is expected to pick up and economists now see growth above 2.5 percent after the first quarter slump. The rest of the year is expected to grow at about the same pace.
The stockholders are told what to do by Beijing. When they want it to go up, it goes up. No leverage here.
Does that mean China can get more out of a deal and not have to settle for just anything
I thought China was losing. 🤷♂️🤔