kent nickell
Well-known member
Interesting article by Michael Pettis on some of the fallout from the Euro Crisis. Essentially he contends that a weakening euro will enhance Europe's exports at the expense of China and the US. If China continues to fight this by trying to keep the renminbi down then it will fall on the US to take up the slack which they are basically unable to do. Thus they would likely impose tariffs which would also not be good for China. He sees the best solution as China using its surplus to heavily support the euro thus trying to mitigate these side effects from happening.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/205...ade-implications-of-the-euro-crisis-for-china
Don't Misread the Trade Implications of the Euro Crisis for China
Excerpts:
I don’t really see how the numbers are going to work. Europe, China and Japan are all implicitly demanding that the US trade deficit rise to help them through their domestic employment problems. The US has its own domestic employment problems and is determined to bring the trade deficit down. Both sides cannot win and there doesn’t seem to be much serious attempt at global coordination. In fact the easiest part of any global coordination – that between surplus Europe and deficit Europe – has already degenerated into a nasty round of accusations, counter-accusations and insults.
So the hard part of the global coordination is almost certain to fail. It will take a few months for the impact of the euro weakness and the withdrawal of net financing to deficit Europe to be felt, but it will be felt. Expect trade tensions to get nastier than ever by the end of this year or the beginning of the next.
By the way is there anything that China can do to head off conflict? Yes. It can buy euros, the more the better –just lift every offer out there. By strengthening the euro, or at least limiting its weakness, this strategy will force the brunt of the adjustment back onto European surplus countries rather than onto the US and, via the US, back onto China. Sarkozy and other European leaders might not be very happy, of course, but they will be at least partially mollified by the net capital inflows and the reduced humiliation of a collapsing euro.
But make no mistake – if southern European trade deficits decline, someone somewhere must bear the brunt of the corresponding adjustment. The only question is who?
===========
Michael Pettis is a professor at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, where he specializes in Chinese financial markets. He has also taught, from 2002 to 2004, at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management and, from 1992 to 2001, at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.
Pettis has worked on Wall Street in trading, capital markets, and corporate finance since 1987, when he joined the Sovereign Debt trading team at Manufacturers Hanover (now JP Morgan). Most recently, from 1996 to 2001, Pettis worked at Bear Stearns, where he was Managing Director-Principal heading the Latin American Capital Markets and the Liability Management groups.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/205...ade-implications-of-the-euro-crisis-for-china
Don't Misread the Trade Implications of the Euro Crisis for China
Excerpts:
I don’t really see how the numbers are going to work. Europe, China and Japan are all implicitly demanding that the US trade deficit rise to help them through their domestic employment problems. The US has its own domestic employment problems and is determined to bring the trade deficit down. Both sides cannot win and there doesn’t seem to be much serious attempt at global coordination. In fact the easiest part of any global coordination – that between surplus Europe and deficit Europe – has already degenerated into a nasty round of accusations, counter-accusations and insults.
So the hard part of the global coordination is almost certain to fail. It will take a few months for the impact of the euro weakness and the withdrawal of net financing to deficit Europe to be felt, but it will be felt. Expect trade tensions to get nastier than ever by the end of this year or the beginning of the next.
By the way is there anything that China can do to head off conflict? Yes. It can buy euros, the more the better –just lift every offer out there. By strengthening the euro, or at least limiting its weakness, this strategy will force the brunt of the adjustment back onto European surplus countries rather than onto the US and, via the US, back onto China. Sarkozy and other European leaders might not be very happy, of course, but they will be at least partially mollified by the net capital inflows and the reduced humiliation of a collapsing euro.
But make no mistake – if southern European trade deficits decline, someone somewhere must bear the brunt of the corresponding adjustment. The only question is who?
===========
Michael Pettis is a professor at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, where he specializes in Chinese financial markets. He has also taught, from 2002 to 2004, at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management and, from 1992 to 2001, at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.
Pettis has worked on Wall Street in trading, capital markets, and corporate finance since 1987, when he joined the Sovereign Debt trading team at Manufacturers Hanover (now JP Morgan). Most recently, from 1996 to 2001, Pettis worked at Bear Stearns, where he was Managing Director-Principal heading the Latin American Capital Markets and the Liability Management groups.
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