stuff happening. get ready. get gold. or, get more gold, and top off with silver, or more silver.
bloomberg.com
China Inc.’s Backers Are Brushing Off Trump Tariff Threats
Brendan Murray
24 April 2024 at 19:00 GMT+8
Chinese producers and their partners abroad don’t sound too worried about Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
That’s among the messages Bloomberg News is reporting from this month’s Canton Fair, China’s biggest trade convention, held in the southern city of Guangzhou.
“My customers told me even a 50% tariff won’t come close to driving them away,” says Jack Jin, who sells cargo-control tools and truck parts from southeast China.
Samuel Jackson, a purchaser for a Bosnian furniture company, says he can get products of “very, very similar” standard at half the price European makers charge.
For Alex Student, an auto accessories importer from California, one way to offset tariffs is to switch to so-called Free On Board pricing. That meant logistics and warehousing costs were left to his US customers – and the sale price, on which tariffs are based, came down.
While Student says he imported some goods from Vietnam last year and has looked at Thailand and Indonesia for certain products, China will still likely get about 75% of his firm’s business even in a worst-case scenario.
Get A Good Deal
Export prices of Chinese manufactured goods have fallen sharply since last year
Source: China's General Administration of Customs
Note: The index is based on yuan value and the FOB price. Anything under 100 means it falls from the price a year earlier.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president in the November election, is promising to slap 60% tariffs on imports from China and 10% duties on those from the rest of the world as he campaigns for another term.
While politicians often make threats on the campaign trail that ultimately come up empty, the former president’s pledges have raised concerns of a “free-for-all” akin to a global trade war.
Earlier this week Trump met with former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso in New York after warning of damage to US industry from the dollar hovering around a 34-year high versus the yen. He called it a “a total disaster for the United States” as manufacturers and companies would lose business and be forced to build plants overseas.
Going on Offense
Meanwhile, tensions are already heating up between China and the world’s two biggest importers. The US and European Union look increasingly aligned going on the offensive against Beijing on trade matters. Read More: Blinken to Begin Tense Talks in China as Sanctions Threat Looms
On Wednesday the EU launched a probe into Chinese medical-device procurement, prompted by concerns the Chinese government unfairly favors domestic suppliers. The move risks aggravating tensions ahead of President Xi Jinping’s first visit to the bloc in five years next month.
Last week the US government called for higher tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum. Also launched in Washington was a 301 review of China’s maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors that some American industry representatives argue is heavily subsidized.
Charted Territory
US State Breakdown of Top Exporters to ChinaTexas and California sold $42.1 billion in goods to China last year
Source: US-China Business Council
Politics of trade | Texas and California — states with the most Electoral College votes in presidential elections — accounted for almost 30% of total US goods exports to China last year, according to the US-China Business Council. The organization’s report also showed total US goods shipments to China last year were valued at $144.9 billion, down 4.3% from a year earlier. Exports of American services, meanwhile, rose 6.2% to $41.8 billion in 2022 — the latest year for which data was available. |
