Economics

Deal or No Deal: Can China Shrink U.S. Deficit by $200 Billion?

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China Disputes $200 Billion U.S. Trade Deficit Offer
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China’s reported offer to cut its annual trade surplus with the U.S. by $200 billion is no sure bet, and not just because state media and a Chinese official cast doubt over it on Friday. Economists have been running the numbers over any such pledge and say it would be a Herculean feat.

“There’s only one way to do this: divert imports from other countries,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief Asia-Pacific economist at Natixis SA in Hong Kong. “The European Union’s aircraft industry and semiconductor industries in Japan and Korea would suffer the most.”