Morgan Stanley sees stronger yuan on possible US trade tariff relief

LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) – Morgan Stanley sees a tactical opportunity for investors to position for a stronger Chinese yuan in the next few weeks amid signs the United States could ease tariffs on Chinese goods.

Tariffs imposed by Washington and Beijing on billions of dollars worth of each other’s goods put pressure on the yuan when Donald Trump was U.S. president. Joe Biden said in May he was considering cutting tariffs on Chinese goods.

“Should the current administration decide to reduce tariffs by $10 billion, it would push CNY 1.8% stronger based on the USD 580 billion of China exports to the US in 2021, all things equal,” analysts at the US bank wrote.

The US imposed USD 70 billion tariffs on goods imported from China between 2018 and 2019, while total US imports from China were about USD 500 billion. During that time, the yuan weakened by 15% against the dollar, Morgan Stanley said.

(Reporting by Samuel Indyk; Editing by Edmund Blair)