With China and the United States (US) as its largest export destinations, Vietnam is seeking ways to insulate itself from an escalating trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.The National Center for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast has submitted a report detailing the potential impact of the trade war to the planning and investment ministry, Luong Van Khoi, deputy director general at the centre in Hanoi, said in an interview.“If the US and China escalate the tension with t

The United States (US) is not stopping with China; it has threatened or engaged in trade wars with Canada, Mexico and the European Union (EU). Could ASEAN member states also be on US President Donald Trump’s list of targets?The US has a combined trade deficit of US$91.8 billion with ASEAN nations, with the largest three being Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand as of 2017.

For Southeast Asia’s biggest economies, 2018 wasn’t supposed to be like this.If a widening trade war wasn’t enough to contend with, a global wave of policy tightening, strong oil prices and domestic politics are also weighing on growth prospects for the region.

Further evidence of Donald Trump’s trade war with China is set to show up in economic data due from Friday, although it will likely just be a taste of things to come.From exporters of Wi-Fi equipment to households splurging on Maine lobsters and other American goods, China is beginning to adjust to the effect of the current tariffs from both nations, and the possibility of more. The trade war arrives as the economy is already slowing, adding an external shock to a home-made one.

There’s a dog that hasn’t barked in the current round of trade tensions between the United States (US) and China.

In the face of growing economic protectionism, undergirded by a trade tiff between the United States (US) and China, Southeast Asian economies are bracing for the impact from a possible economic fallout.

President Donald Trump’s moves to protect United States (US) trade interests are creating unusual bedfellows in Asia.India and China, longstanding economic and strategic rivals, are seeing a thaw in relations less than a year after the most serious border flare-up since a war in 1962 threatened ties between the two Asian giants.Since May, China has made it easier for India to export non-Basmati rice, removed import duties on anti-cancer drugs and agreed to share data that predicts river flows

The slump in China’s yuan is stoking fear that policy makers are less willing to temper the currency’s decline as the economy slows and a trade battle with the United States (US) worsens.That’s a sharp turnaround from just a few weeks ago, when the yuan was in effect serving as an anchor for emerging economies facing rising global interest rates and a strengthening US dollar.

Xi Jinping vowed to match Donald Trump blow for blow in any trade war. Now as one gets closer, some in Beijing are starting to openly wonder whether China is ready for the fight - an unusually direct challenge to the leadership of the world’s second-largest economy.In recent weeks, prominent academics have begun to question if China’s slowing, trade-dependent economy can withstand a sustained attack from Trump, which has already started to weigh on stock prices.

According to an old African proverb, “When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.” The same is true for full-blown trade wars: when major economies clash, developing countries will be among the hardest hit.On 1 June, the United States’ (US) administration imposed import tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium. The levies will affect not just China, but also Canada, Mexico, and the countries of the European Union (EU).