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☆ The Rise and Fall of the World’s Most Successful Joint Venture
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Peter S. Goodman | More About Peter S. Goodman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For more than a quarter century, the fortunes of the United States and China were fused in a uniquely monumental joint venture. Americans treated China like the mother of all outlet stores, purchasing staggering quantities of low-priced factory goods. Major brands exploited China as the ultimate means of cutting costs, manufacturing their products in a land where wages are low and unions are banned. As Chinese industry filled American homes with electronics and furniture, factory jobs lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese from poverty. China’s leaders used the proceeds of the export juggernaut to buy trillions of dollars of U.S. government bonds, keeping America’s borrowing costs low and allowing its spending bonanza to continue.

Persons: Niall Ferguson, ” Organizations: Communist Party Locations: United States, China

☆ How Columbia Sportswear Is Loosening Its Ties to Asia
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Peter S. Goodman | More About Peter S. Goodman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

His company, Columbia Sportswear, had long relied on plants in Asia to make its clothing, but that appeared increasingly precarious. A trade war undermined the benefits of using Chinese factories to keep Americans stocked with windbreakers and fleece pullovers. As Columbia’s head of apparel manufacturing, Mr. Burton, 52, was responsible for diminishing the risks. He visited Zuntex Apparel, a factory in Guatemala City that was already making modest quantities of Columbia’s hooded sweatshirts and button-down fishing shirts. When Mr. Burton reached the back of the cavernous plant, he gawked at an array of Italian-made machines capable of printing elaborate designs that could be pressed onto clothing.

Persons: Stan Burton, Burton Organizations: Apparel Locations: Guatemalan, Columbia, Asia, Central America, United States, Guatemala City

For most of his 57 years on the island of Sulawesi, Jamal was accustomed to scarcity, modest expectations and a grim shortage of jobs. The factory was built by a company called PT Dragon Virtue Nickel Industry, a subsidiary of a Chinese mining giant, Jiangsu Delong Nickel. Indonesia had recently banned exports of raw nickel to attract investment into processing plants. They were eager to secure nickel for factories at home that needed the mineral to make batteries for electric vehicles. They were intent on moving the pollution involved in the nickel industry away from Chinese cities.

Persons: Jamal, Jiangsu Delong Organizations: Industry Locations: Sulawesi, Kendari, Jiangsu, Indonesia

Nickel is a central component of the transition away from fossil fuels, making access to Indonesia’s stocks an objective of greatest urgency. “It’s frustrating.”Money and PowerAt 76, Mr. Luhut remains wiry, spry and prone to nationalist pique. He vehemently rejects the notion that Indonesia — a country of nearly 280 million people — must pick a side or imperil its business with the United States. The animosity between the United States and China was not the only issue causing him angst. Since the ban was introduced in 2014, Indonesia’s exports of nickel products have multiplied more than tenfold, exceeding $30 billion last year, according to government data.

Persons: Biden, ”, “, spry Organizations: National Security Council, Everything, European Union Locations: Jakarta, America, Indonesia, United States, China

☆ China’s Stalling Economy Puts the World on Notice
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Peter S. Goodman | More About Peter S. Goodman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For more than a quarter-century, China has been synonymous with relentless development and upward mobility. As its 1.4 billion people gained an appetite for the wares of the world — Hollywood movies, South Korean electronics, iron ore mined in Australia — the global economy was propelled by a seemingly inexhaustible engine. Long the centerpiece of a profit-enhancing version of globalization, China has devolved into the ultimate wild card in a moment of extraordinary uncertainty for the world’s economy. First came word that China’s economy had slowed substantially in the spring, extinguishing hopes of a robust expansion following the lifting of extreme Covid restrictions. This week brought data showing that China’s exports have declined for three months in a row, while imports have dropped for five consecutive months — another indicator of flagging prospects.

Locations: China, South Korean, Australia

☆ Uruguay Saw Opportunity in China. It Got Schooled in the Hazards of Trade.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Peter S. Goodman | More About Peter S. Goodman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In April, Mr. Lula traveled to China, where he received red carpet treatment, including a visit with the country’s top leader, Xi Jinping. “No one is going to prohibit Brazil from improving its relationship with China,” Mr. Lula said. Yet despite the Brazilian president’s avowed interest in brokering a trade deal, prospects for an agreement between Mercosur and China appeared somewhere between minimal and nonexistent. A notoriously slow-moving organization rife with internal discord, Mercosur has spent more than 20 years trying to complete negotiations on a trade deal with the European Union. That alone rendered all but unthinkable the possibility of a deal between Mercosur and China.

Persons: Lula, Xi, ” Mr Organizations: European Union Locations: China, Brazil, Uruguay, South, Mercosur, Paraguay, Beijing, Taiwan

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