Accounting and business services firm Baker Tilly International and financial data provider Mergermarket did a survey of deal makers and found out that the tariffs that the US and China put on each other's products would make business acquisitions and mergers increase though global deals went down 11 percent to $2.49 trillion in the first nine months of the year.
According to S&P Global Ratings, even if a deal is agreed upon at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Chile next month, the trade concerns between the US and China will not get resolved quickly.
Because of the shift in the global supply chains, 77% of dealmakers are expecting the numbers of acquisitions and mergers to go up.
Michael Sonego, global corporate finance lead at Baker Tilly, confirmed the "strong interest among buyers despite the geopolitical turbulence."
The survey had 150 respondents with a quarter of them coming from the US.
Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed were from private equity or venture capital firms.
With the trade issues going on for more than a year resulting in the US trying to make China change its industrial practices, hundreds of billions of dollars got already slapped on as tariffs on each other's goods.
Though a "phase-one" agreement had been arrived at wherein the US will hold off on the additional tariffs while China will buy more US agricultural products, no deal will get signed before the APEC.
Global economic uncertainty has weighed on businesses and made companies hold off on investments while they figure out how to cope.
Shaun Roache, a chief Asia-Pacific economist at S&P Global Ratings, said the effects of the trade issues between the two biggest economies have "only just started."
He added that it looks like "We'll get a new deal at the APEC meeting" and reiterated that "this is a very deep issue that will not get resolved quickly."
Seventy-one percent of those surveyed by Baker Tilly said they expected their cross-border merger activity and investment spending increase in the next year.
An unnamed respondent said it is not wise "to refrain from M&A (merger and acquisition) even with the growing uncertainty."
The respondent added that "We just need to be careful to acknowledge the major issues in each region."
Seventy-eight percent said they will look at mergers and investment opportunities in their home market in the next two years.
However, when it comes to surveying respondents that are to have the highest M&A outside their home markets, Southeast Asia and North America top the others.
