Ray Dalio has warned the US-China trade war could be entering a new stage. America’s blacklisting of Huawei and China’s threats to cut off US supplies of rare-earth metals could transform the “tariff war” into an “export embargo war,” the billionaire cochairman of Bridgewater Associates wrote in a LinkedIn post.
“The US shutting off supplies to Huawei appears to be a step forward by the United States in weaponizing export controls,” Dalio said, referring to the Trump administration’s decision to ban trade with Huawei due to espionage concerns. The ban has been temporarily relaxed to enable some US companies to sell the Chinese telecom giant the components it needs to maintain its existing network equipment and devices.
Coupled with growing signs that China is prepared to cut off America’s supply of rare-earth metals – which are needed for numerous devices including smartphones, electric-car batteries, and missile-defense systems – Dalio questioned whether tariff hikes could evolve into export embargoes “intended to shut parts of the other country down.”
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