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在线翻译:
szdaily -> World Economy -> 
US firms trim growth forecasts amid tariffs
    2019-04-30  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

AS they continue to feel the impact of U.S. trade wars and struggle to find workers, American companies have rolled back their growth estimates for this year, according to a survey released yesterday.

The U.S. economy will continue to grow but “barely half” of the business economists surveyed now forecast GDP to expand by more than 2 percent this year, “compared with 67 percent of respondents in the January survey,” according to the semi-annual survey by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE).

Most of the rest expect the U.S. economy to grow by 2 percent or less, the survey showed. The U.S. government Friday reported that the U.S. economy expanded 3.2 percent in the first three months of the year but many economists say that pace cannot be sustained.

The U.S. economy grew quickly during the first three months of 2019 because of a surge in company inventories and a shrinkage in the trade gap, temporary factors that are likely to fade.

Businesses increased imports at the end of 2018 out of concern that U.S. President Donald Trump could further escalate tariffs against China, but the administration held off to conduct trade talks with the world’s second largest economy.

At the same time, companies in the NABE survey continue to try to adjust to the impact of retaliatory tariffs on American goods and to U.S. tariffs on imports that have raised costs.

“A year after the United States first imposed new tariffs on its trading partners in 2018, the recent tariffs have negatively affected more than one-fourth of respondents’ firms,” NABE president Kevin Swift said in a statement.

But three-quarters of goods-producing firms reported a negative impact, with 67 percent of manufacturers indicating they had faced higher materials costs and half have raised prices of their products, the survey showed.

In addition, 42 percent reported negative sales and a third said they had delayed planned investments.

With the U.S. unemployment rate at historic lows, labor shortages continue to dog the companies surveyed, prompting nearly half to raise wages or take other steps to adjust.

Nearly 80 percent of firms said they were having difficulty finding high-skilled workers, while half face shortages of mid-skill workers.

In the manufacturing sector, 60 percent of companies have raised wages while half have lowered requirements for new hires.

(SD-Agencies)

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