U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods have started beating American companies, contrary to expectations that only Chinese firms will stumble. Among the sectors getting impacted by the trade war is oilfield operations.
CEO of American independent oilfield services firm Canary, Dan K. Eberhart wrote on CNN Business Perspectives that oilfield companies in the United States are caught in the middle of the trade war.
Eberhart argued that if oil firms are to cut ties with Chinese manufacturers, they will be forced to search for similar manufacturing partners that offer cheap but quality deals. However, the world has little to offer in terms of affordability and quality combined.
Furthermore, Eberhart noted that many countries these days are falling target to trade attacks from the White House. Canary is considering looking for suppliers from Mexico has also been threatened with potential tariffs.
Many oilfield companies in the U.S. are in search of other options ever since tariffs were increased by 25 percent for billions of Chinese goods. Eberhart said it's not just in the United States but even Japanese and European carmakers are affected.
In a way, Japanese and European carmakers may have the impression that the U.S. is no longer a safe and welcoming place to secure trading deals with. This could lead to decreased confidence in American oilfield service providers.
It's not just oilfield businesses suffering from the effects of increased tax duties on Chinese goods. Tech companies are also complaining about the blacklist on Huawei, China's leading tech provider.
The U.S. ban on Huawei has escalated the trade war to greater heights, with the Chinese government announcing that it will soon release its very own Entity List that could include some big American brands.
It appears, though, that despite the woes of businesses in the country, the White House is not slowing down. Trump said earlier this week that he can increase more tariffs if Chinese President Xi Jinping does not meet him at the G20 summit later this month.
It has yet to be confirmed if Xi will grace the Japan conference but Trump has reiterated that he is looking forward to speaking with the Chinese chief at the summit. Beijing responded to the White House challenge, stating that it is willing to hold another round of talks for a potential trade deal but no date was dropped.
The trade war is expected to rage on since Beijing has made it clear that it will not back down in the fight. "China does not want to fight a trade war, but we are not afraid of fighting a trade war," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, reiterated.
