HOUSTON, June 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. state of Texas should keep developing economic and trade relations with China, its third largest trading partner, regardless of the uncertainty brought by the U.S.-initiated trade tensions with China, a business leader has said.
"Texas has been enjoying investment of Chinese capital, primarily in energy and agriculture sectors," but the foreign capital has been affected recently because of the trade conflicts, Texas Association of Business CEO Jeff Moseley said in a Monday interview with Xinhua.
In the name of protecting domestic industries, Washington has placed steep tariffs on billions of U.S. dollars' worth of products from China, a heavy blow to the two countries' economic and trade relations.
Besides energy and agriculture, Moseley said U.S. tourist business is also impacted by the tensions as fewer Chinese visitors come to the country.
"When those numbers are reduced nationwide, then we know Texas also would be impacted by that," he said.
Moseley said the trade frictions and tariffs could cause small businesses and consumers to suffer. "Tariffs are causing, for example, the cost of a washing machine or dryer to go up. That's an impact to the small business."
"We've already seen the economic impact on some of the consumable items adding almost 100 U.S. dollars (per unit) to the price. That price hike is passed to the consumer," he added.
Moseley also said that "one of the biggest concerns is that the uncertainty could potentially cause some of these relationships that have been developed for several decades to be dramatically changed."
It is not uncommon for buyers or sellers to establish new trade relations if uncertainty happens, Moseley said.
"Chinese already have invested significantly in Texas. We enjoy the foreign capital that's coming here to give us jobs, and we want to fight to continue to grow our fair share of that," said Moseley.
As a state known for agriculture and energy, Texas has huge advantages for exporting products to China as well, Moseley said.
According to him, Texas Association of Business is preparing to create a Texas-China trade and investment coalition under its framework to further facilitate bilateral trade and investment.
Being the leader of a 97-year-old organization, Moseley reiterated the commitment to promoting business with China to stimulate the economy and create more job opportunities.
"We can bring more capital investment and more jobs into our economy because of a stronger relationship with China's trade," he said.
Founded in 1922, Texas Association of Business works to protect and enhance the Texas business climate and make the state's economy strong. Its members and 200 local chamber partners employ hundreds of thousands of Texans and produce 8 billion dollars annually in business, according to its website.
