Bilateral investment between the US-China has taken a hit in the new atmosphere of uncertainty, according to a new report by consultancy Rhodium Group, with investors thinking twice about pipeline deals.
FDI between the two countries came to $43 billion in 2017, the report said, a drop of around a third. This trend has spilled over into 2018, with total Chinese investment into the US only $1.2 billion in January and February and the number of potential deals also flagging, the Financial Times reports.
Thilo Hanemann, one of the reports of the study, said that “companies are putting their deals on ice and taking a wait-and-see approach…The policy environment is just too risky.”
However, the report later pointed out that last year’s drop in FDI was driven by China, whose investment into the US fell to $29 billion from $46 billion in 2016 largely due to Beijing’s tightening of outward capital flows. US investment into China was almost unchanged.