Few ‘Significant Impacts’ Likely From ‘Latest’ Trade News, Survey of Economists Finds

There’s little optimism among corporate economists that the “latest developments in international trade” will stimulate sales in their companies or industries, a National Association for Business Economics (NABE) survey found. The group canvassed members Dec. 23-Jan. 8 and found 63 percent expect no “significant impacts” from recent trade developments, it said Monday. Equal blocs of respondents of 15 percent expect either positive or negative outcomes, it said. NABE started its canvassing 10 days after the U.S. and China announced their phase one trade deal (see 1912130042) but ended it a week before the deal was signed and the terms were released (see 2001160022). NABE's board includes the chief economists of Amazon and Intel.