Expert: Sino-US trade volume decline will hurt global economy

The contraction of two-way trade volume between China and the United States as a result of ongoing trade tension will hurt the two economies and bring negative impact to the global economy, a senior economist said on Friday.

Zhu Min, head of Tsinghua University's National Institute of Financial Research, said that the trade tariffs the US levied on Chinese imports will eventually become the tax burden on US companies and consumers.

China is a major exporter of intermediate goods to the US, accounting for about 15.6 percent of the US market, according to Zhu, who is also the former deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

Tariffs will push the prices of intermediate goods imported from China higher, which will increase the cost for US companies at the lower end of the industrial chain and force them to cut jobs, Zhu said.

The economist said that he hoped that Beijing and Washington could reach a trade deal as China-US trade tension has been the biggest negative factor for the global economy.

"One of the biggest side effects of China-US trade frictions is increased uncertainty in the global economy. The resolution of the trade tension will bring big benefits to the global economy," he said.