Harris or Trump: Does it matter for China who wins the election?

U.S. trade ties with China will remain tense no matter who wins the election in November, according to Carlos Casanova, senior economist at Swiss private bank UBP.

Casanova's view is shared by other experts who have said that both the Republican and the Democratic presidential nominees — Donald Trump and Kamala Harris — will remain tough on China.

Trump has proposed up to 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and a blanket tariff of 10%-20% on all other imports, while Harris is expected to largely stick with Biden's tariff policy, experts told CNBC.

"A Trump victory is highly likely to increase trade and economic hostilities between the U.S. and China, ramping up the trade and financial decoupling between the two countries," said Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell University.

Stronger tariffs by Harris cannot be ruled out either, given Biden not only retained Trump's tariffs, he piled on more. The U.S. in May announced stiff duties on about $18 billion worth of Chinese imports, including electric vehicles, solar cells, lithium batteries, steel and aluminum. 

During the debate, Harris did not give specifics on her China policy, but said that "a policy about China should be in making sure the United States of America wins the competition for the 21st century."

"Which means focusing on the details of what that requires, focusing on relationships with our allies, focusing on investing in American based technology so that we win the race on A.I. and quantum computing," Harris added.

"We think that ongoing trade tensions, both with U.S. and Europe, are here to stay. I think in the U.S. it's well understood, the support for more stern actions against China is bipartisan. So it doesn't matter who wins the election," Casanova told