Can’t US firms just buy their goods from other countries?

Mr Trump has said US firms that import from China should look elsewhere – perhaps to Vietnam – or better still buy their goods from American manufacturers.

But Mr Bondy says it is not so simple.

“It takes a long time for productivity and value chains to be reoriented and that all comes at a cost.

“Take the steel tariffs the US imposed last year – it is not like all of a sudden there are hundreds of new factories being built in the US.”

China is also a manufacturing powerhouse, dwarfing its nearest rivals, which makes it hard to replace it in global supply chains.

 


Post time: Jun-13-2019