Under the hood of President Donald Trump's goals of settling trade deficits, and protecting against forced technology transfer and security concerns with China, is more than a $40 billion dropoff in Chinese investment in the U.S., according to The New York Times.
"The fact that the foreign direct investment has fallen so sharply is symbolic of how badly the economic relationship between the United States and China has deteriorated," ex-head of the China division of the International Monetary Fund, Eswar Prasad, told the Times. "The U.S. doesn't trust the Chinese, and China doesn't trust the U.S."
Direct foreign investment from China has fallen to $5.4 billion in 2018 from a peak of $46.5 billion in 2016 – a precipitous decline of almost 90% – according to Rhodium Group data, the Times reported.
"I certainly hear in conversations with investors a lot of concern about whether the U.S. market is still open," Baker McKenzie foreign investment lawyer Rod Hunter told the Times. "You have a potentially chilling effect for Chinese investors."
Part of the investment decline is baked in from an overall Chinese economic slowdown, although, that could be attributed to President Trump's hardline stance on U.S. trade with China. Real estate and other sectors are feeling a trade-war pinch, too, per the report.
"The not-so-welcome mat is out, and it is having a deleterious effect on relatively poorer areas in the United States that need jobs," U.S.-China Business Council President Craig Allen told the Times. "The Chinese hear from our state and local officials that they're welcome. What they're hearing from federal officials is quite different."
Working with China is a bad look for Americans right now, according to financial lawyer John Kabealo.
"I think there's a whole lot of concern in the fund world right now," Kabealo told the Times. "Funds still want to take Chinese money, but they're being much more cautious in the way that they do it."
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