The billionaire chairman of China’s Fosun Group — one of the country’s biggest conglomerates — has predicted that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will not instigate a trade war with China because of the common interests between the two nations.
Trump frequently bashed China on the campaign trail and threatened to slap 45% tariffs on Chinese products. But Guo Guangchang’s statement is the latest indicator that Chinese companies are not bracing for a rocky four years ahead, Bloomberg reports.
In an interview published on Thursday, Guo told Bloomberg that Fosun — which owns Wall Street’s 28 Liberty building — would continue to invest in the U.S. And work with American companies. He said the leaders of China and the U.S. Were smart enough to find the best way to co-operate and praised the checks and balances that prevent a president from being “free to do whatever he wants.”
“The best thing about democracy is this balancing and self-correction mechanism. If a president doesn’t do a good job the people will vote him out,” Guo said.
He added that he was “optimistic about the changes a businessman turned president will bring to America.”
For more on Trump’s proposed protectionist policies, watch Coins2Day’s video:
Guo’s statements come a week after entrepreneur turned movie mogul Wang Jianlin—#1 on Forbes’ China Rich List—reportedly congratulated Trump and said he was not worried about the election result.