News & Insights

Global trade disputes are nothing new, as can be seen in the below figure that shows complaints lodged with the WTO since its formation 23 years ago, in 1995. Historically, most disputes were able to be resolved within 15 months, and the party lodging the complaint usually wins.

Download PDF Version

However, the United States recently decided to adopt a vastly different approach in an attempt to resolve the trade imbalances and disputes by imposing additional tariffs on some of its trading partners including the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and China. The head of the National Foreign Trade Council and a former negotiator, Rufus Yerxa, likened that to “throwing out the rule book on trade.” He said, “I’ve been dealing with this stuff for four decades and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Not surprisingly, this move by America has been met with immediate countermeasures from its trading partners. And these tit-for-tat increases between the United States and the other countries essentially marked the start of a trade war. Although the scale of the trade war is still currently relatively small, it has been met with criticisms from governments and businesses all over the world, including US businesses and farmers.

In this ASIA INSIGHTS, we will take a look at how the trade war came about, and what that means for China’s economy and its real estate market.

China’s East Coast became wealthy over the past decades thanks to its access to the sea and hence to global trade. Today, the Belt-and-Road initiative starts to link China’s inland cities to the intercontinental trading routes. The augmented revival of the Silk Road raises the strategic importance of those cities and further enhances their strong economic growth.

As a younger generation enters the workforce in Asia’s metropolises, various concepts catering for a trendy lifestyle, and at the same time increasing urban density, are emerging in the real estate sector. The concepts of co-working and co-living create a working and housing environment that supports collaboration, openness, knowledge sharing, innovation, and social interaction.

It has long been established that buildings are responsible for over one third of all resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. With real estate being the biggest asset class, sustainable investing in property seems like an obvious thing to do. Like so often, however, the real challenge lies in the execution, and in particular in the credible assessment of true sustainability.