BHP trims US-China growth forecasts on trade tensions

The world's single largest mining conglomerate, BHP Billiton, is trimming its internal growth forecasts for 2019 and 2020 for both the US and China, primarily due to the two countries' ongoing trade conflict.

BHP's Chief Commercial Officer, Arnoud Balhuizen delivered a prepared statement at a mining conference early Tuesday in Melbourne, warning shareholders that, despite the trade conflict, BHP's businesses have yet to see any immediate negative impacts.

According to COO Balhuizen, “our modeling indicates that the negative impact of Sino-U.S. trade protection on Chinese GDP growth will fall in the range of a half (0.5) to three quarters (0.75) of a percentage point. The expected gross negative impact on the U.S. also falls within that range, which confirms that the trade protection will create a lose-lose outcome."