SAN FRANCISCO ¨C U.S.-China relations will continue to evolve as negotiations stretch over the decades, but a resolution to the current trade dispute will likely happen in the ¡°not too distant future,¡± General Electric Co.¡¯s Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp said.
His comments came as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. is open to facing ¡°repercussions¡± if it doesn¡¯t live up to its commitments in a potential trade deal with China, a sign the two sides are edging closer to an accord to end their nine-month trade and tariff war.
¡°There¡¯s a politically expedient resolution relative to trade numbers, a big order here, a big order there,¡± Culp said at the Harvard College China Forum. ¡°Substantively, our sense is that both governments should like to advance the conversation, maybe not once and for all, but in a meaningful way with respect to access and intellectual property.¡±
He¡¯s also concerned that pulling back from China, where GE started doing business as early as 1906, would open up a void its competitors in Japan and Europe would be ¡°very quick¡± to fill. China is GE¡¯s biggest market by revenue after the U.S., he said.
¡°If you look at our supply chains, the way our design footprints, operate today they are very much integrated global networks,¡± Culp said. ¡°To pull a piece of the puzzle like China out would impair those supply chains and those design networks.¡±
The U.S. and China are discussing whether to hold more in-person meetings. The IMF cited trade tensions as a risk in the past week as it cut its outlook for global growth to the lowest since the financial crisis a decade ago.
Culp, highly respected on Wall Street for the successful transformation of Danaher Corp., took over as GE¡¯s CEO in October after John Flannery was ousted, pledging to speed up the company¡¯s turnaround.
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