If Trump hits China, regional demand would soften blow in Asia

(Feb 2): If Donald Trump slapped China with punishing tariffs, the pain would also be felt by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, vital cogs in a regional supply chain that allows China to build widgets and gadgets for the world.

But Asia boasts a fast-growing middle class now numbering in the hundreds of millions, meaning China and other regional exporters rely less on US consumers, and Trump may not have the leverage his predecessors enjoyed in decades past.

Trade among Asian countries grew to 57% of their overall trade in 2015 from just under 46% in 1990, according to Jong Woo Kang, an economist at the Asian Development Bank and the main author of the lender’s 2016 Asian Economic Integration Report.

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