UPDATE 1-BHP trims forecasts for U.S., China GDP growth due to trade conflict
(Adds comments, detail)MELBOURNE, Oct 30 (Reuters) - The world's biggest miner BHPBillitonhas trimmed its expectations of globalgrowth for next year and 2020 due to a "lose-lose" result fromthe U.S.-China trade conflict, a senior executive said onTuesday.
BHP's modelling suggested the trade row would cut bothChinese and U.S. GDP growth by about a half to three quarters ofa percentage point, Chief Commercial Officer Arnoud Balhuizentold the IMARC mining conference in Melbourne.
"Which confirms that the trade protection will create alose-lose outcome," he said.
BHP has "not yet seen any material impact on our business,"he added.
China's economy grew by a slower-than-expected 6.5 percentin the third quarter, its weakest pace since the globalfinancial crisis, and analysts believe business conditions willget worse before they get better. Meanwhile, the United States is preparing to announcetariffs on all remaining Chinese imports by early December iftalks next month between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinpingfail to ease the trade war, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citingunnamed sources. "We have to be realistic that the current situation will notbe solved easily," Balhuizen said.
However, despite rising trade tension hitting global growth,less trade between China and the United States would open thedoor to increased trade elsewhere.
"There's a lot of other countries around the Sino-U.S. tradeprotection scenario which are actively upping their trade," hesaid.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; additional reporting by SonaliPaul; editing by Richard Pullin)
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