The Great Wall Of Money

No matter how much Trump bellows, the Sino-American trade war will eventually pass, and Asha Mehta and the smart quants at Acadian Asset Management will cash in on China

- Kenneth Rapoza

On March 1, 2018, Asha Mehta’s firm, Boston’s Acadian Asset Management, announced it would be launching a new China strategy, focussed on investing directly in mainland Chinese companies. Her timing could not have been worse. Three weeks later President Trump launched an all-out trade war, vowing to place tariffs on tens of billions of Chinese imports. It was the beginning of a nearly continuous stream of China-bashing from the White House, which—no surprise—has wreaked havoc on Chinese equities. In the 18 months since, MSCI’s China Stock Index is down 16 percent, while the S&P 500 has gained 11 percent.

“China has been a hard sell,” says Mehta, 41, as she stares out over Boston Harbor from her Franklin Street office, “but you have to ignore the noise. China’s local market is becoming a net capital importer. You have continued market liberalization.”