Gita Gopinath, the deputy managing director of the IMF, said that the United States and China were closer than ever to the onset of a "new cold war." The official noted the high risk of such a scenario if the countries "continue to drift apart." The IMF representative believes that a turning point in this issue could be changes in investment trends and increased tension in trade. Currently, China is not the largest trading partner for the US, and its attractiveness to foreign investors has significantly decreased. The progress in trade relations achieved earlier is under threat. At the same time, both the US and China have more economic interdependence than before. "If fragmentation deepens, we could find ourselves in a new cold war. We could see an annihilation of the gains from open trade," Gita Gopinath said. Today, it is not only the US that has reduced trade ties with China. Many countries, including Mexico, India, and the UAE, are ready to follow this path. The deterioration in this issue is intensifying, and the direct links between China and the US are being replaced by indirect ones. A testament to this trend is the shift of electronics production by major US companies to Vietnam. This is also facilitated by high tariffs in the US on Chinese goods. Meanwhile, Vietnam receives a major portion of its resources from China, but the bulk of its exports go to the US. Regarding Mexico, it became the largest exporter of goods to the US in 2023, surpassing China in this regard.
