Blackstone’s Jonathan Gray Says China ‘Needs to Change’

The new president of Blackstone, the giant private equity company that is the world’s largest manager of alternative assets, said Wednesday that China’s trade policies must change.

“I think all the parties recognize, and in the case of China as well, that there needs to be a rebalancing. That China has historically not had as open of a market, and that needs to change,” Blackstone president and Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Gray said at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha investor conference.

Gray’s comments echoed those of White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow at the conference’s kickoff. Kudlow said that even China realizes its trade practices, from tariffs to forced participation in joint-ventures between foreign and Chinese companies, are wrong.

Similar to Kudlow, Gray was optimistic that the ultimate resolution of the Trump administration’s trade dispute with China will result in a deal rather than a “trade war.”

“They recognize that if there was a sharp cessation of trade, a real trade war, it would have negative impacts on both sides. And there is a collective self-interest to try to resolve this,” Gray said. “We believe there will be a resolution in the long term.”

Gray acknowledged Kudlow’s criticism Wednesday morning of what the White House adviser said was opposition of China’s president Xi Jinping to a trade deal that could avoid “tit-for-tat” tariffs.

“So maybe the problems are deeper, and it sounds like, based on the commentary today, the distance between the U.S. and China is further than people would hope for,” Gray said.