China’s banking regulator has ordered banks to boost lending to infrastructure projects and exporters as Beijing seeks to counter mounting concerns about the intensifying trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
The move comes amid mounting expectation that collateral from the intensifying trade war will spill over on to Wall Street, disrupting US banks’ plans to expand in mainland China. US lenders fear the dispute will hamper their scramble to take advantage of new rules allowing them full control of their mainland Chinese subsidiaries.
Chinese trade negotiators led by Wang Shouwen, vice-commerce minister, head to Washington for two days of talks starting on Wednesday, the first since the US imposed punitive tariffs on Chinese exports on July 6 for alleged intellectual property theft.