US tariff impact on China’s foreign investment inflow controllable: MOC

2019-06-02
Xinhua

BEIJING — The US additional tariffs on Chinese products have limited impact on China’s foreign investment inflow, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

US investment took a tiny share of China’s total foreign direct investment, which only stood at about 4.2 percent by the end of 2018, Chinese vice commerce minister Wang Shouwen said in an interview on May 31.

China, on the other hand, has huge market appeal thanks to its large scale and a growing middle-income community. China’s social retail sales are catching up with the United States, Wang said.

The US tariff hike has limited impact on foreign enterprises which seek long-term growth and need the Chinese market, he said, adding they are upbeat on development opportunities as the huge market grows with sound economic fundamentals.

Wang said there were cases of some export-oriented and labor-intensive foreign enterprises transferring production capacity overseas, but they only made up a limited share.

Transferring production capacity might reduce some costs, but could also face other uncertainties in terms of local industrial development, economic environment, labor quality as well as risks of US trade restriction measures, Wang said.

Foreign firms enjoy good opportunities and a rosy future for cooperation and development in China as China will continue to expand market access and improve business environment, he said.