US-China tariff war to persist: Condoleezza Rice

Former US secretary of state says a bipartisan consensus against its increasingly assertive rival will be lasting impediment to global trade and keep downward pressure on oil prices

Tariff tensions between the US and China—seen as a major factor in the benchmark WTI oil price being range-bound in the $50-65/bl band so far this year—may be prolonged longer than markets anticipate, according to former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. The breakdown of the post-war consensus for international free trade—reinforced by the collapse of communism and entry of China into global capitalism—is breaking down and drawing the US into protracted action that will continue to diminish global trade, the George W Bush-era secretary told delegates at the Adipec conference in Abu Dhabi. There is a “kind of disappointment” with the integration of China into the international economy. “Th