Not only commodities like soybeans and caviar can be hit by tariffs in the ongoing trade war, China has many more potential targets, like the US casino’s in Macau, says business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The War for China’s Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order, at Onlinepoker.net.
Onlinepoker.net:
Needless to say, a trade war between the two economic powerhouses is likely to spill over into a number of different industries, with US owned casinos in Macau one area at risk from collateral damage. Currently, Macau has six licensed gaming operators with 41 casinos on the island, many of which are owned by US companies Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts.
While US manufacturing and exporting interests in China are likely to be the first businesses targeted by the Chinese government during a trade war, casino operators in Macau could also be viewed as potentially legitimate targets ripe for retaliation. As Shaun Rein, China Market Research Managing Director, explained recently:
“It is possible they will ratchet up police surveillance of his [Adelson’s] Macau properties in order to spread fear among high rollers and even middle-class gamblers that they are being checked in on by the authorities. Or they will launch an audit of their books. Either way, a move could be viewed as having plausible deniability that the government cloaks as a crackdown on corruption or tax evasion, as they did against Lotte in China’s battle with South Korea.”
Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
Are you looking for more experts on the trade war between China and the US? Do check out this list.
