Weaponising words or measuring manoeuvres : the effect of US statements and actions on Chinese industries in the US-China trade war

• Main Author: Ong, Audrey Sze Yun
• Other Authors: Azusa Katagiri
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Social sciences::Political science::International relations; Social sciences::Economic theory::International trade
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/150111
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The US-China trade war has become a modern battleground over core economic and strategic interests, testing the effectiveness of aggressive economic measures. This conflict has witnessed the US field verbal threats and tariff impositions, signalling intent to achieve Chinese trade concessions. To assess signal credibility, the reactions of the Chinese stock market by industry would shed light on the perceived degree of US commitment by China. Previous literature has argued that signalling behavioural patterns exhibited by the sender state affects the effectiveness of signals in a conflict, where preceding threats should yield greater impacts than actions thereafter. Hence, this paper has examined and compared the effectiveness of US tariff impositions and threats, by using Chinese stock prices as a proxy to holistically assess the success of the US trade war strategy.