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Serious Weak Chinks Blinked First - Trump The Best, Make America Great Again
- Thread starter Froggy
- Start date
nah suck this middle finger...
If trump gets a 2nd term
He will.
Y,N,Y,Y(5 drinks 1st)
Key points in the US-China 'phase one' deal
The Port of Los Angeles, the nation's busiest container port. (PHoto: AFP/Mario Tama)
14 Dec 2019 06:01AM
(Updated: 14 Dec 2019 12:08PM)
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Bookmark
WASHINGTON: After nearly two-years of bare-knuckle battling, Washington and Beijing on Friday (Dec 13) at last announced a bargain to end the dispute.
The agreement came two months after US President Donald Trump first announced a "phase one" deal.
Below are major elements of the deal announced Friday.
READ: US-China trade deal gets tepid reception
AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE
The world's top two economies - which engage in over US$730 billion two-way trade annually - have yet to sign the text of the deal but say they have a bargain in principle.
US officials say they expect to sign the pact in early January after a legal review and once they have made certain the English and Chinese versions of the text are equivalent.
Officials will work diligently to complete a legal review and translations of the text before a final signing, Wang Shouwen, deputy minister of commerce, said Friday.
AREAS COVERED
US and Chinese officials said the agreement includes protections for intellectual property, food and farm goods, financial services and foreign exchange, and a provision for dispute resolution.
"Importantly, the agreement establishes a strong dispute resolution system that ensures prompt and effective implementation and enforcement," US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement Friday.
US officials have long said enforcement was crucial to ensuring that China holds up its end of the bargain, an area of nagging scepticism.
BOOST FOR US AGRICULTURE
Trump has promised that any deal would include a commitment from China for a massive increase in purchases of US farm products.
At the White House Friday he said, "I think in agriculture they will hit $50 billion."
But US officials told reporters China's commitments for imports of US$200 billion in all across four sectors including energy and manufacturing, would unfold over two years.
For agriculture, that would mean a return to 2017 levels when American farmers exported US$19.5 billion in products to China. Those exports tumbled by more than US$9 billion in 2018 as the trade war began and Beijing retaliated against US tariffs with punitive duties.
Han Jun, vice minister of agriculture in Beijing, said the partial agreement also would boost China's farm exports to the United States, including cooked poultry, pears and dates.
"Some of these problems have been talked about for more than 10 years, and this time there has been a substantive breakthrough," he said.
TARIFFS ON HOLD
As part of the deal, Trump cancelled 15 per cent tariffs that had been due to hit Sunday on US$160 billion in Chinese goods, especially electronics likes cell phones and computers, which would have been particularly painful to US consumers.
And in a major concession, the US will slash in half the 15 per cent tariffs on another US$120 billion imposed Sep 1, on consumer goods like clothing.
While Chinese officials said the US agreed to roll back the other tariffs in stages, for now Washington will keep in place the 25 per cent duties on US$250 billion in imports.
China's Vice Finance Minister Liao Min did not specify whether Beijing planned to cancel existing tariffs on US imports to China.
In September, Beijing removed tariffs imposed on 16 categories of US products.
CHINA FINANCIAL SERVICES
US officials said the deal includes improved access to China's financial services market for U.S. companies, including in banking, insurance, securities and credit rating services. It aims to address a number of longstanding U.S. complaints about investment barriers in the sector including foreign equity limitations and discriminatory regulatory requirements.
China, which has pledged for years to open up its financial services sector to more foreign competition, said the deal would boost imports of financial services from the United States.
But China's state-run Global Times newspaper said that not all foreign institution will be able to tap China's financial market. "Naturally, entities from countries which are friendly to China will be favored by the Chinese people," the paper said in a commentary.
Source: AFP/Reuters/ec/hm
The Port of Los Angeles, the nation's busiest container port. (PHoto: AFP/Mario Tama)
14 Dec 2019 06:01AM
(Updated: 14 Dec 2019 12:08PM)
Share this content
Bookmark
WASHINGTON: After nearly two-years of bare-knuckle battling, Washington and Beijing on Friday (Dec 13) at last announced a bargain to end the dispute.
The agreement came two months after US President Donald Trump first announced a "phase one" deal.
Below are major elements of the deal announced Friday.
READ: US-China trade deal gets tepid reception
AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE
The world's top two economies - which engage in over US$730 billion two-way trade annually - have yet to sign the text of the deal but say they have a bargain in principle.
US officials say they expect to sign the pact in early January after a legal review and once they have made certain the English and Chinese versions of the text are equivalent.
Officials will work diligently to complete a legal review and translations of the text before a final signing, Wang Shouwen, deputy minister of commerce, said Friday.
AREAS COVERED
US and Chinese officials said the agreement includes protections for intellectual property, food and farm goods, financial services and foreign exchange, and a provision for dispute resolution.
"Importantly, the agreement establishes a strong dispute resolution system that ensures prompt and effective implementation and enforcement," US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement Friday.
US officials have long said enforcement was crucial to ensuring that China holds up its end of the bargain, an area of nagging scepticism.
BOOST FOR US AGRICULTURE
Trump has promised that any deal would include a commitment from China for a massive increase in purchases of US farm products.
At the White House Friday he said, "I think in agriculture they will hit $50 billion."
But US officials told reporters China's commitments for imports of US$200 billion in all across four sectors including energy and manufacturing, would unfold over two years.
For agriculture, that would mean a return to 2017 levels when American farmers exported US$19.5 billion in products to China. Those exports tumbled by more than US$9 billion in 2018 as the trade war began and Beijing retaliated against US tariffs with punitive duties.
Han Jun, vice minister of agriculture in Beijing, said the partial agreement also would boost China's farm exports to the United States, including cooked poultry, pears and dates.
"Some of these problems have been talked about for more than 10 years, and this time there has been a substantive breakthrough," he said.
TARIFFS ON HOLD
As part of the deal, Trump cancelled 15 per cent tariffs that had been due to hit Sunday on US$160 billion in Chinese goods, especially electronics likes cell phones and computers, which would have been particularly painful to US consumers.
And in a major concession, the US will slash in half the 15 per cent tariffs on another US$120 billion imposed Sep 1, on consumer goods like clothing.
While Chinese officials said the US agreed to roll back the other tariffs in stages, for now Washington will keep in place the 25 per cent duties on US$250 billion in imports.
China's Vice Finance Minister Liao Min did not specify whether Beijing planned to cancel existing tariffs on US imports to China.
In September, Beijing removed tariffs imposed on 16 categories of US products.
CHINA FINANCIAL SERVICES
US officials said the deal includes improved access to China's financial services market for U.S. companies, including in banking, insurance, securities and credit rating services. It aims to address a number of longstanding U.S. complaints about investment barriers in the sector including foreign equity limitations and discriminatory regulatory requirements.
China, which has pledged for years to open up its financial services sector to more foreign competition, said the deal would boost imports of financial services from the United States.
But China's state-run Global Times newspaper said that not all foreign institution will be able to tap China's financial market. "Naturally, entities from countries which are friendly to China will be favored by the Chinese people," the paper said in a commentary.
Source: AFP/Reuters/ec/hm
Ah tiong land is the winner
.
US-China trade deal receives tepid reception
"Pardon me if I don't pop champagne, but aside from a cessation of continued escalation, there is not much worth cheering," leading China expert Scott Kennedy said in an analysis of the agreement.
Updated
Updated 9 hours ago
After a dispute that raged for close to two years, with several fumbled efforts at a resolution, the US agreed to cancel planned tariffs and rollback others immediately, without a similar commitment from China to lift tariffs it imposed on the US.
"Pardon me if I don't pop champagne, but aside from a cessation of continued escalation, there is not much worth cheering," leading China expert Scott Kennedy said in an analysis of the agreement.
"The costs have been substantial and far-reaching, the benefits narrow and ephemeral."
Mr Trump tweeted that Beijing "agreed to many structural changes and massive purchases of Agricultural Product, Energy, and Manufactured Goods, plus much more."
Getty Images
The US Trade Representative office said they expect to sign the phase one agreement in the first week of January, and issued a fact sheet highlighting key points, including enforcement provisions and improved protection for American technology.
In addition, it includes a Chinese commitment to buy $200 billion more in US goods and services over two years, USTR said.
That would be a significant increase: China imported just shy of $190 billion in goods and services in 2017, so if the target is met it would cut the US trade deficit with China by a third.
US President Donald Trump has long railed against the trade imbalance, citing it as proof China is using distorting policies to gain an unfair advantage.
Mr Trump tweeted that Beijing "agreed to many structural changes and massive purchases of Agricultural Product, Energy, and Manufactured Goods, plus much more."
Back from the brink
Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul said agreeing to remove tariffs amounted to "giving away much of our leverage, while kicking the can down the road on the most meaningful trade issues with China."
And trade economist Mary Lovely said the deal could only be viewed as a "partial win" which "didn't move the needle very much."
"We were kind of on a brink, and we saw the negotiators reach a deal that pulled us back, and I think that is important," she said of the news Trump canceled the 15 percent tariffs on electronics that were due to hit Sunday.
But the gains in the deal do not compensate for the damage to US farmers and businesses, Ms Lovely told reporters.
"President Trump is desperately trying to get back to where the economy was 18 months ago," before taking this "unilateral, brute force approach."
READ MORE
United States and China strike a partial trade deal
But Mr Kennedy said that in exchange for "only limited concessions, China has been able to preserve its mercantilist economic system and continue its discriminatory industrial policies at the expense of China’s trading partners and the global economy."
US farmers and retailers welcomed the end to the dispute, but also wanted to see more information.
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall noted that prior to the eruption of hostilities China was the second-largest market for US agricultural products, but dropped to fifth.
READ MORE
Tensions surrounding US-China trade war cloud ASEAN summit
"Reopening the door to trade with China and others is key to helping farmers and ranchers get back on their feet," Mr Duvall said in a statement.
In addition to the collapse in exports, and surge in farm bankruptcies, the US government has paid tens of billions of dollars in aid to farmers to compensate for lost sales - funds that come from tariffs paid by US consumers and businesses.
The National Retail Federation, which has long opposed US tariffs, particularly the last two rounds which hit consumer products in particular, said "the trade war won't be over until they are eliminated completely."
Topics:
.
US-China trade deal receives tepid reception
"Pardon me if I don't pop champagne, but aside from a cessation of continued escalation, there is not much worth cheering," leading China expert Scott Kennedy said in an analysis of the agreement.
Updated
Updated 9 hours ago
- Share on Facebook
- Share on Twitter
After a dispute that raged for close to two years, with several fumbled efforts at a resolution, the US agreed to cancel planned tariffs and rollback others immediately, without a similar commitment from China to lift tariffs it imposed on the US.
"Pardon me if I don't pop champagne, but aside from a cessation of continued escalation, there is not much worth cheering," leading China expert Scott Kennedy said in an analysis of the agreement.
"The costs have been substantial and far-reaching, the benefits narrow and ephemeral."
Mr Trump tweeted that Beijing "agreed to many structural changes and massive purchases of Agricultural Product, Energy, and Manufactured Goods, plus much more."
Getty Images
The US Trade Representative office said they expect to sign the phase one agreement in the first week of January, and issued a fact sheet highlighting key points, including enforcement provisions and improved protection for American technology.
In addition, it includes a Chinese commitment to buy $200 billion more in US goods and services over two years, USTR said.
That would be a significant increase: China imported just shy of $190 billion in goods and services in 2017, so if the target is met it would cut the US trade deficit with China by a third.
US President Donald Trump has long railed against the trade imbalance, citing it as proof China is using distorting policies to gain an unfair advantage.
Mr Trump tweeted that Beijing "agreed to many structural changes and massive purchases of Agricultural Product, Energy, and Manufactured Goods, plus much more."
Back from the brink
Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul said agreeing to remove tariffs amounted to "giving away much of our leverage, while kicking the can down the road on the most meaningful trade issues with China."
And trade economist Mary Lovely said the deal could only be viewed as a "partial win" which "didn't move the needle very much."
"We were kind of on a brink, and we saw the negotiators reach a deal that pulled us back, and I think that is important," she said of the news Trump canceled the 15 percent tariffs on electronics that were due to hit Sunday.
But the gains in the deal do not compensate for the damage to US farmers and businesses, Ms Lovely told reporters.
"President Trump is desperately trying to get back to where the economy was 18 months ago," before taking this "unilateral, brute force approach."
READ MORE
But Mr Kennedy said that in exchange for "only limited concessions, China has been able to preserve its mercantilist economic system and continue its discriminatory industrial policies at the expense of China’s trading partners and the global economy."
US farmers and retailers welcomed the end to the dispute, but also wanted to see more information.
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall noted that prior to the eruption of hostilities China was the second-largest market for US agricultural products, but dropped to fifth.
READ MORE
"Reopening the door to trade with China and others is key to helping farmers and ranchers get back on their feet," Mr Duvall said in a statement.
In addition to the collapse in exports, and surge in farm bankruptcies, the US government has paid tens of billions of dollars in aid to farmers to compensate for lost sales - funds that come from tariffs paid by US consumers and businesses.
The National Retail Federation, which has long opposed US tariffs, particularly the last two rounds which hit consumer products in particular, said "the trade war won't be over until they are eliminated completely."
Topics:
For manufacturing in China, ‘Elvis has left the building’
Updated: 4:23am, 9 Jan, 2020
Advertisement
Weeks after switching on the machines of a new production line near Bangkok, veteran manufacturer Larry Sloven has a quip for the stream of companies leaving China: “Elvis has left the building.”
After three decades of building up manufacturing bases in China, Sloven helped Capstone International Hong Kong, of which he is managing director, wind one down. Costs were rising before the
trade war
, but a 25 per cent tariff on the lighting products the company exports back to the United States helped accelerate a shift that was set in motion 18 months ago – moving its production base to Thailand.
Now, despite the fact that lead time to hit the shelves in US stores can take up to 40 days from Thailand, almost twice as long as from China, few retailers are willing to pay the premium price that needs to be charged to keep production in Guangdong.
“Even if the tariffs went away tomorrow, most people are not coming back,” he said. “But I do not believe that most retailers in America understand this process of what a supplier must go through. Nobody will pay the price.”
Even if the tariffs went away tomorrow, most people are not coming back. But I do not believe that most retailers in America understand this process of what a supplier must go through. Nobody will pay the price
Larry Sloven
This is a situation playing out in boardrooms around the world, as international companies accept the reality that the US-China phase one trade deal will not materially improve the lay of the land for their Chinese-based operations.
Advertisement
Rising labour and environmental costs, a head-spinning regulatory environment, the ever-looming threat of more and higher tariffs, along with a sharp increase in the perception of risk associated with living and working in China mean that the
manufacturing exodus
that began at the tail end of the last decade will continue well into this one.
There is acceptance that the “Goldilocks Zone” provided by China’s industrial heartlands for the last 30 years – in which the mixture of costs, quality, human resources and infrastructure was just right – will not be matched in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam or anywhere else.
“This is the right stepping stone, just the start,” Sloven said of Thailand. “I believe that Vietnam is already full, it's like having a ticket at a bakery, you have to wait in line. Right now, there's no line in Thailand, but it will get full.”
As a direct result of trade war tariffs, China has fallen behind Mexico and Canada to become the US’ third largest trading partner. Before the trade war, it was number one.
Tariffs saw China’s trade in goods surplus with the US fall by 7.9 per cent in November, according to data released by the US Census Bureau on Tuesday. This was amid a 20.84 per cent fall in Chinese exports to the US from a year earlier, including items like cellphones. US purchases of Chinese goods are now at their lowest point since March 2013.
At the same time, the US has been buying more goods from the countries to which Chinese-based manufacturers are most commonly fleeing.
Compared with June 2018, the month before the trade war began, US imports of
goods from Vietnam
have soared 51.6 per cent, Thailand 19.7 per cent, Malaysia 11.3 per cent, Indonesia 14.6 per cent, Taiwan 30 per cent and Mexico 12.7 per cent, according to South China Morning Post calculations based on US Census Bureau data for November.
Advertisement
If there were any new year optimism about the US-China trading relationship, it is in scarce supply among foreign manufacturers in China.
“For companies exporting to the US, the entire time span of the trade war has sent the message that this isn't going to go away and that they need to rethink things,” said John Evans, managing director at Tractus Asia. Evans, who advises firms on relocating from China, said that even with the announcement of a phase-one deal, he has been getting more calls.
“There were still a number of companies sitting on the sidelines, even into the last quarter of last year, thinking there'll be a grand resolution. But in reality, it’s more of a new normal.”
This so-called new normal has helped drive a long list of big-name companies out of China, with others choosing to keep a presence but scale back operations to continue selling to the domestic market.
But for every Hasbro, Samsung, Sonos, Sharp, GoPro, Sony or Nintendo, there are a host of small suppliers being forced out due to costs, or because they are pressured to follow their major customers.
For every foreign company that left China in 2019, there were two to three more seriously contemplating doing so and we expect more companies to leave China in 2020 than in 2019
Dan Harris
“For every foreign company that left China in 2019, there were two to three more seriously contemplating doing so and we expect more companies to leave China in 2020 than in 2019,” wrote Dan Harris, founder of Harris Bricken, an international law firm working extensively in China, in a blog post.
A director at a company
supplying accessories to Apple
– who spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the topic – said the US tech giant had told them that they should plan to leave China if they were to be kept on as a supplier, forcing them to scout for new production sites in Southeast Asia.
Other exporters that have yet to face US trade war tariffs are making contingency plans due to rising costs and the unpredictability of exporting from China. They are not just American firms, but companies from all over the world.
Allar Peetma is the CEO of Estonian manufacturer Gerardo’s Toys, which makes rocking horses near Shanghai using moulds made in the European Union. His biggest export market is the US, and his products were due to face a 15 per cent tariff on December 15. This was postponed indefinitely with the announcement of the
phase-one trade deal
, but Peetma does not seem comforted by the truce.
US and China reach ‘phase-one’ trade deal
“Our costs are going up, but our customers want the same price, and they don’t understand that the costs are rising,” he said. “Our plan is to produce in the EU. We can use automation which can allow us to keep the costs and prices about the same. And it’s higher quality than being handmade in China. Our biggest market is the US, so tariffs are of course a worry, but other countries have high [import] taxes for China too, like Brazil and Turkey.”
Similarly, Tsutomu Aoi – a manager in the Hong Kong division of Japanese magnetic toymaker Sumaku – said that costs in their plant in the eastern port city of Ningbo have ratcheted up. For some products like action figures, the company has automated processes such as mould injection and spraying at a separate plant in Jiangmen, across the border from Macau. But should the postponed US tariffs eventually hit, production would be quickly switched to Indonesia.
“The labour costs are low, but the process is slow. Currently the US forms a small part of our exports but it is a target to grow there this year,” said Aoi. “The 25 per cent [tariff] would be expensive, that’s one of the reasons we have set up in Indonesia, to export to the US from there.”
The 25 per cent [tariff] would be expensive, that’s one of the reasons we have set up in Indonesia, to export to the US from there
Tsutomu Aoi
French scooter manufacturer Globber, meanwhile, is experiencing “15 to 30 per cent higher costs” at its Dongguan plant, in southern China, compared to its previous production base near Hangzhou in the country’s east. New tariffs would make it more expensive to export to the US.
“December 15 was good news for us,” said CEO Pascal Comte, but he is already thinking of what might come next. “In the short term, you can’t do anything [about tariffs], you have to pay the costs and it affects sales. Long term for sure, or medium term, the best option is Vietnam. It takes a while to transfer tooling, and to find operations and manpower.”
Rarely, however, is the divorce from China a clean one. Sloven at Capstone moved to a new base in Thailand with the help of a Chinese manufacturing partner that still provides many of the components used in their products. It can be a delicate balance, working with a Thai manufacturing partner to ensure that enough of the finished product is made of local content, to qualify for a low-tariff “Made in Thailand” label.
“We’ve worked out a formula that’s good for both of them so they both can stay in business,” he said. “It’s difficult to get out of China without the help of your Chinese partner.”
A year of the US-China trade war
The company needs to ship a particular form of glue from China that cannot be sourced in Thailand and will also import packaging from there.
“You would be amazed at the things that you find out. It’s cheaper to produce your packaging in China, put it on a boat, ship it to Thailand than to have a factory in Thailand produce that packaging,” Sloven said “My point is you can’t do this overnight. This is a two year process.”
Consultant Evans said that the “first wave” of companies leaving China started moving 12 to 18 months ago, while the “second wave started mid-2019”.
A brief period of armistice in the US-China relationship is unlikely to stop more waves in the future, as foreign companies continue to wean themselves off the Chinese manufacturing dream that has helped shape the global economy for the past 30 years.
- China’s rising costs, tricky regulations and increasingly unstable geopolitical situation are forcing more manufacturers to move production elsewhere
- First and second wave of leavers underway, with more to follow, despite the prospect of a minor US-China trade truce
Updated: 4:23am, 9 Jan, 2020
Advertisement
Weeks after switching on the machines of a new production line near Bangkok, veteran manufacturer Larry Sloven has a quip for the stream of companies leaving China: “Elvis has left the building.”
After three decades of building up manufacturing bases in China, Sloven helped Capstone International Hong Kong, of which he is managing director, wind one down. Costs were rising before the
trade war
, but a 25 per cent tariff on the lighting products the company exports back to the United States helped accelerate a shift that was set in motion 18 months ago – moving its production base to Thailand.
Now, despite the fact that lead time to hit the shelves in US stores can take up to 40 days from Thailand, almost twice as long as from China, few retailers are willing to pay the premium price that needs to be charged to keep production in Guangdong.
“Even if the tariffs went away tomorrow, most people are not coming back,” he said. “But I do not believe that most retailers in America understand this process of what a supplier must go through. Nobody will pay the price.”
Even if the tariffs went away tomorrow, most people are not coming back. But I do not believe that most retailers in America understand this process of what a supplier must go through. Nobody will pay the price
Larry Sloven
This is a situation playing out in boardrooms around the world, as international companies accept the reality that the US-China phase one trade deal will not materially improve the lay of the land for their Chinese-based operations.
Advertisement
Rising labour and environmental costs, a head-spinning regulatory environment, the ever-looming threat of more and higher tariffs, along with a sharp increase in the perception of risk associated with living and working in China mean that the
manufacturing exodus
that began at the tail end of the last decade will continue well into this one.
There is acceptance that the “Goldilocks Zone” provided by China’s industrial heartlands for the last 30 years – in which the mixture of costs, quality, human resources and infrastructure was just right – will not be matched in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam or anywhere else.
“This is the right stepping stone, just the start,” Sloven said of Thailand. “I believe that Vietnam is already full, it's like having a ticket at a bakery, you have to wait in line. Right now, there's no line in Thailand, but it will get full.”
As a direct result of trade war tariffs, China has fallen behind Mexico and Canada to become the US’ third largest trading partner. Before the trade war, it was number one.
Tariffs saw China’s trade in goods surplus with the US fall by 7.9 per cent in November, according to data released by the US Census Bureau on Tuesday. This was amid a 20.84 per cent fall in Chinese exports to the US from a year earlier, including items like cellphones. US purchases of Chinese goods are now at their lowest point since March 2013.
At the same time, the US has been buying more goods from the countries to which Chinese-based manufacturers are most commonly fleeing.
Compared with June 2018, the month before the trade war began, US imports of
goods from Vietnam
have soared 51.6 per cent, Thailand 19.7 per cent, Malaysia 11.3 per cent, Indonesia 14.6 per cent, Taiwan 30 per cent and Mexico 12.7 per cent, according to South China Morning Post calculations based on US Census Bureau data for November.
Advertisement
If there were any new year optimism about the US-China trading relationship, it is in scarce supply among foreign manufacturers in China.
“For companies exporting to the US, the entire time span of the trade war has sent the message that this isn't going to go away and that they need to rethink things,” said John Evans, managing director at Tractus Asia. Evans, who advises firms on relocating from China, said that even with the announcement of a phase-one deal, he has been getting more calls.
“There were still a number of companies sitting on the sidelines, even into the last quarter of last year, thinking there'll be a grand resolution. But in reality, it’s more of a new normal.”
This so-called new normal has helped drive a long list of big-name companies out of China, with others choosing to keep a presence but scale back operations to continue selling to the domestic market.
But for every Hasbro, Samsung, Sonos, Sharp, GoPro, Sony or Nintendo, there are a host of small suppliers being forced out due to costs, or because they are pressured to follow their major customers.
For every foreign company that left China in 2019, there were two to three more seriously contemplating doing so and we expect more companies to leave China in 2020 than in 2019
Dan Harris
“For every foreign company that left China in 2019, there were two to three more seriously contemplating doing so and we expect more companies to leave China in 2020 than in 2019,” wrote Dan Harris, founder of Harris Bricken, an international law firm working extensively in China, in a blog post.
A director at a company
supplying accessories to Apple
– who spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the topic – said the US tech giant had told them that they should plan to leave China if they were to be kept on as a supplier, forcing them to scout for new production sites in Southeast Asia.
Other exporters that have yet to face US trade war tariffs are making contingency plans due to rising costs and the unpredictability of exporting from China. They are not just American firms, but companies from all over the world.
Allar Peetma is the CEO of Estonian manufacturer Gerardo’s Toys, which makes rocking horses near Shanghai using moulds made in the European Union. His biggest export market is the US, and his products were due to face a 15 per cent tariff on December 15. This was postponed indefinitely with the announcement of the
phase-one trade deal
, but Peetma does not seem comforted by the truce.
US and China reach ‘phase-one’ trade deal
“Our costs are going up, but our customers want the same price, and they don’t understand that the costs are rising,” he said. “Our plan is to produce in the EU. We can use automation which can allow us to keep the costs and prices about the same. And it’s higher quality than being handmade in China. Our biggest market is the US, so tariffs are of course a worry, but other countries have high [import] taxes for China too, like Brazil and Turkey.”
Similarly, Tsutomu Aoi – a manager in the Hong Kong division of Japanese magnetic toymaker Sumaku – said that costs in their plant in the eastern port city of Ningbo have ratcheted up. For some products like action figures, the company has automated processes such as mould injection and spraying at a separate plant in Jiangmen, across the border from Macau. But should the postponed US tariffs eventually hit, production would be quickly switched to Indonesia.
“The labour costs are low, but the process is slow. Currently the US forms a small part of our exports but it is a target to grow there this year,” said Aoi. “The 25 per cent [tariff] would be expensive, that’s one of the reasons we have set up in Indonesia, to export to the US from there.”
The 25 per cent [tariff] would be expensive, that’s one of the reasons we have set up in Indonesia, to export to the US from there
Tsutomu Aoi
French scooter manufacturer Globber, meanwhile, is experiencing “15 to 30 per cent higher costs” at its Dongguan plant, in southern China, compared to its previous production base near Hangzhou in the country’s east. New tariffs would make it more expensive to export to the US.
“December 15 was good news for us,” said CEO Pascal Comte, but he is already thinking of what might come next. “In the short term, you can’t do anything [about tariffs], you have to pay the costs and it affects sales. Long term for sure, or medium term, the best option is Vietnam. It takes a while to transfer tooling, and to find operations and manpower.”
Rarely, however, is the divorce from China a clean one. Sloven at Capstone moved to a new base in Thailand with the help of a Chinese manufacturing partner that still provides many of the components used in their products. It can be a delicate balance, working with a Thai manufacturing partner to ensure that enough of the finished product is made of local content, to qualify for a low-tariff “Made in Thailand” label.
“We’ve worked out a formula that’s good for both of them so they both can stay in business,” he said. “It’s difficult to get out of China without the help of your Chinese partner.”
A year of the US-China trade war
The company needs to ship a particular form of glue from China that cannot be sourced in Thailand and will also import packaging from there.
“You would be amazed at the things that you find out. It’s cheaper to produce your packaging in China, put it on a boat, ship it to Thailand than to have a factory in Thailand produce that packaging,” Sloven said “My point is you can’t do this overnight. This is a two year process.”
Consultant Evans said that the “first wave” of companies leaving China started moving 12 to 18 months ago, while the “second wave started mid-2019”.
A brief period of armistice in the US-China relationship is unlikely to stop more waves in the future, as foreign companies continue to wean themselves off the Chinese manufacturing dream that has helped shape the global economy for the past 30 years.
Mozzies should be treated as such
China like buying more corn or more pork from Dotard .
https://www.rt.com/business/477641-china-grain-quotas-us/
China halves tariffs on more than 1,700 US goods
06 February 2020
Business
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Containers are seen stacked at a port in Qingdao in China's eastern Shandong province.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
China plans to halve tariffs on 1,717 goods it imports from the US as the country faces the fresh challenge of the coronavirus.
Chinese officials said tariffs on some goods would be cut to 5% from 10%, and on others from 5% to 2.5%.
The two countries have been stuck in a long-running trade war with both imposing tariffs on imported products.
A partial resolution was agreed last month with China promising to boost imported US goods by $200bn.
This latest announcement to reduce tariffs is China's first response to the "phase one" agreement .
China's economy has been under additional pressure this year as the coronavirus outbreak threatens to derail the economy. Factories across the country remain closed and its manufacturing sector faces a severe drop in production.
The tariff cuts, which cover $75bn of US goods coming into China, will take effect on 14 February. Tariffs remain on a further $35bn worth of US goods.
The US will also roll back some tariffs on Chinese goods as part of the agreement.
It is being seen as a significant step towards resolving the US-China trade war. In a statement, China's finance ministry said the aim was ''to promote the healthy and stable development of Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations''.
Talking about the timing of the tariff reductions, Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics, said: ''Perhaps they want to show goodwill and send the message that they are still committed to de-escalating trade tensions despite the coronavirus delaying the ramp-up in their imports from the US''.
Stock markets around Asia rallied on the news. Both Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei 225 both rose 2.6% following the announcement.
06 February 2020
Business
Share this with EmailShare this with FacebookShare this with TwitterShare this with Whatsapp
Containers are seen stacked at a port in Qingdao in China's eastern Shandong province.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
China plans to halve tariffs on 1,717 goods it imports from the US as the country faces the fresh challenge of the coronavirus.
Chinese officials said tariffs on some goods would be cut to 5% from 10%, and on others from 5% to 2.5%.
The two countries have been stuck in a long-running trade war with both imposing tariffs on imported products.
A partial resolution was agreed last month with China promising to boost imported US goods by $200bn.
This latest announcement to reduce tariffs is China's first response to the "phase one" agreement .
China's economy has been under additional pressure this year as the coronavirus outbreak threatens to derail the economy. Factories across the country remain closed and its manufacturing sector faces a severe drop in production.
The tariff cuts, which cover $75bn of US goods coming into China, will take effect on 14 February. Tariffs remain on a further $35bn worth of US goods.
The US will also roll back some tariffs on Chinese goods as part of the agreement.
It is being seen as a significant step towards resolving the US-China trade war. In a statement, China's finance ministry said the aim was ''to promote the healthy and stable development of Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations''.
Talking about the timing of the tariff reductions, Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics, said: ''Perhaps they want to show goodwill and send the message that they are still committed to de-escalating trade tensions despite the coronavirus delaying the ramp-up in their imports from the US''.
Stock markets around Asia rallied on the news. Both Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei 225 both rose 2.6% following the announcement.
Damnit. why can't we have a war between China and USA?
Any time Muricans want to turn pushing into shoving, China will beat the shit out of them, and back again into them.
Dotard must crawl on bended knees to Beijing and kowtow 3 times and beg for forgiveness.
See this as an indication China not going to fight Muricans with AK 47s wearing sandals cut from used truck tyres .
https://www.dawn.com/news/1478340
At time of that writing before China revealed their DF100 with range of 1000, km carrying 500kg warheads. Out of sight even in chart below.
And take a look from another angle below
https://www.facebook.com/Modern-Chinese-Warplanes-611223845748378/
Any time USA want to fight China, China will end that fight.
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/a...sonic-missiles-for-greatly-enhanced-firepower
China’s Type 055 Destroyers to Integrate Hypersonic Missiles for Greatly Enhanced Firepower
Whack the shit out of Muricans and whack the shit back into Muricans again WANG SUI WANG WANG SUI
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/a...lance-drone-is-very-bad-news-for-the-u-s-navy
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1818203281736458/
Any time USA want to fight China, China will end that fight.
And remember, these are only what China said she has.
What about other weapon systems China not talking about yet?
And spring that as huge huge surprise on that day China ending the fight of Muricans.
China’s Type 055 Destroyers to Integrate Hypersonic Missiles for Greatly Enhanced Firepower
Whack the shit out of Muricans and whack the shit back into Muricans again WANG SUI WANG WANG SUI
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/a...lance-drone-is-very-bad-news-for-the-u-s-navy
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1818203281736458/
Any time USA want to fight China, China will end that fight.
And remember, these are only what China said she has.
What about other weapon systems China not talking about yet?
And spring that as huge huge surprise on that day China ending the fight of Muricans.
Than pls attack yankeeland now. Talk soo much is uselesshttps://militarywatchmagazine.com/a...sonic-missiles-for-greatly-enhanced-firepower
China’s Type 055 Destroyers to Integrate Hypersonic Missiles for Greatly Enhanced Firepower
Whack the shit out of Muricans and whack the shit back into Muricans again WANG SUI WANG WANG SUI
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/a...lance-drone-is-very-bad-news-for-the-u-s-navy
View attachment 71275
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1818203281736458/
Any time USA want to fight China, China will end that fight.
And remember, these are only what China said she has.
What about other weapon systems China not talking about yet?
And spring that as huge huge surprise on that day China ending the fight of Muricans.
Why?
You some kind of banana American loving brown noser?
You think those angmohs will respect you because you fucking brown nose yourself on them and lick up their shit?
They laff and laff into your face and kick you and laff again at their kicking of you.
U go and unkat them and tell them that and see what the fuck they tell you and what they do to you.
China no talk.
China just prepare for the time when Muricans then pushing into shoving.
Then China will still not talk but beat the shit out of Muricans and beat the shit back into Muricans.
Remember when USA fire power was at least 100 times that of China during the Korea War
America forgot about WW2 where China with barely any arms from USA and with single shot bolt rifles and swords and bare hands fought and killed 3,000,000 Japanese invaders?
And USA needed no less than aircraft carriers and battleships and planes and artilleries and automatic rifles to kill 300,000 Japs in the Pacific?
Or Korean War where China with single shot bolt action rifles drove USA and all her allies when USA firepower 100 times greater than China and fighting with automatic weapons and artillery and battleships with 16 inch guns .
The military might and strength of USA with heavy artillery and planes and tanks and battleships with 16 inch guns cannot be resisted by China with economy slightly out of stone age and with single shot bolt action rifles. Bolt operated rifles were just one stage above using muzzle loading muskets and black powder.
That Chinese be slaughtered and turned into red pulp should they dare to fight good old Dugout in Korea.
Chinese whacked USA and the UN combined that they had to flee south of the Parallel as demanded by China.Chinese fought with bolt operated rifles against Ma Dueces , automatic weapons and artillery and tanks and planes and chopters and battleships with 16″ guns.
Go read the book by David Halberstam
The Coldest Winter
Look on the front line at 24 Nov 1950 and the front line of 16 Dec 1950.
It took China only twenty days and less to do that push down to 38 parallel fighting USA and the UN combined who had 100 times and more of the firepower of China.
And now China firepower is at least 3 times more than USA , and with far greater reach than that of USA.
China MLRS reach much further, carry bigger bang and more accurate than USA , and China carried a lot more.
China tube artillery also reach further and can send more rounds down range and more accurate than USA equivalent, and again China got a lot more.
So any time Muricans want to fight, China will end that fight.
You some kind of banana American loving brown noser?
You think those angmohs will respect you because you fucking brown nose yourself on them and lick up their shit?
They laff and laff into your face and kick you and laff again at their kicking of you.
U go and unkat them and tell them that and see what the fuck they tell you and what they do to you.
China no talk.
China just prepare for the time when Muricans then pushing into shoving.
Then China will still not talk but beat the shit out of Muricans and beat the shit back into Muricans.
If i remember correctly, usa mcarthur was prevented from bombing in china to stop the supply lines.
China caved in. But the palestinians will never surrender.
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