There is no winner in trade protectionism: Heraeus chairman

SHANGHAI, Sept. 23 -- A senior executive at a German technology group has said that no one benefits when it comes to trade protectionism.

"With the high integration of the world industry value chain, there is no winner in trade protectionism," said Jan Rinner, chairman of the board of management at Heraeus.

Heraeus is a German technology group with a history of more than 160 years. It is a leading global supplier of precious and special metals and was listed as a Fortune 500 company in 2017.

"Because of the development of globalization, I think most of the global value chains of different industries are highly integrated. It's now very difficult to turn the wheel back," said Rinner in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"Globalization and access to the global market is a fact that nobody can deny. In the long run, all market participants will benefit from that. A trade war is a war that should not be fought, because nobody can win."

Rinner said he sees more opportunities in China's market as the country further opens up.

In mid-September, Heraeus Precious Metals Technology, a subsidiary of Heraeus, invested 120 million U.S. dollars to set up a precious metals plant in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu province. It is the company's largest single investment in China.

"With this new plant, we want to make contributions to the Chinese economy by introducing the world's leading plant for the recycling of precious metals. It also contributes to the overall environmental protection policies in China," Rinner said.