Huntsman CEO sees US-China trade-deal opening in Q4, early ’20

NEW YORK (ICIS)–There is an opening politically for some kind of US-China trade deal in the fourth quarter of 2019 or early 2020, ahead of the US presidential election in November 2020, the CEO of Huntsman said.

Images shows the currencies of the US and China. Photo by Kin Cheung/AP/Shutterstock)

“If it’s not settled entirely, there could be a partial deal to take the worry out of it. We could see a 1,500 point move in the [US stock] market, creating trillions of dollars in value,” said Peter Huntsman, CEO of Huntsman, in an interview with ICIS.

The resulting benefits of a trade deal would set the stage for the November 2020 US presidential election where President Donald Trump is basing a large part of his re-election strategy on the strength of the US economy, he noted.

The tariffs and negative sentiment are hitting China far harder than the US, said the CEO.

“You’ve got to think that China is really concerned. The US is less dependent on exports than ever with exports accounting for 9.5% of GDP. And half of that comes from Canada and Mexico,” said Huntsman.

“The US is less dependent on the world for both energy and exports,” he added.

See related stories and content on the US-China trade war topic page

Interview article by Joseph Chang