China Evening Missive

Clearly the topic needs to be tariffs. Trump posting that a flat rate of 10% will be levied on all Chinese imports into the US.

There’s been a focus on how tariffs will be paid by the end consumer. I’m sure it isn’t that straightforward. I also view this as missing a far larger point.

China doesn’t just manufacture pretty much everything the world consumes, it does so at a scale you can’ t possibly fathom. The cost per unit is measured in cents and not dollars.

So, in this great game of economic chicken China has by far more room to maneuver than that of America and specifically the American consumer.

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

Is Trump about the bring a knife to a gun fight?

Can’t China just reduce costs by the tariff amount?

I would have to agree on the "knife and gunfight" comment. How, exactly, China will respond is still unclear. That said, it is very safe to say that the leadership in Beijing has been working on a series of contingency plans for a number of years.