International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in a recent interview said the US-China trade rivalry, which started during the Donald Trump reign posed a high risk to the global economy.
“We may be sleepwalking into a world that is poorer and less secure as a result,” said Georgieva.
Citing her example of living through the cold war, Georgieva said, “I lived through the first Cold War on the other side of the Iron Curtain. And, yeah, it is quite cold out there. And to go in a second cold war for another generation is…very irresponsible.”
While the US-China trade is still sizeable, hovering around the $600 billion mark, the two countries have been at loggerheads for a long time.
What started with Trump as a ‘trade war’ has continued in one way or another with President Joe Biden in the White House.
The last few months have been dominated by the ‘semincoductor wars’ between the two nations. Washington has imposed an export ban to restrict China’s chip supply for hi-tech military applications.
Georgieva said it was impossible to see a complete rupture in the relationship but added, “It is important to think through actions and what they may generate as counter actions carefully, because once you let the genie out of the bottle, it’s hard to put it back in.”
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As reported by WION, in the aftermath of the export curbs, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had accused the US of harming its rights.
“The US side introduced new export controls against China, restricting investments in China, seriously violating free-trade principles and seriously harming China’s legitimate rights and interests, which must be corrected.”
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“The US side should stop its containment and suppression of China and not create new obstacles to bilateral relations,” it added.
(With inputs from agencies)
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