It has been widely reported that President Trump plans to invoke Section 301, an obscure provision of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, as the opening salvo in a more confrontational approach to dealing with China.
The Associated Press says Trump wants to “punish China for failing to crack down on intellectual property thefts and forcing U.S. and foreign companies to share their technology in return for access to the vast Chinese market.” The New York Times and Washington Post report that Trump will invoke Section 301 to order an investigation by the U.S. trade representative into unfair Chinese trade practices. That would start the clock on a process that under which Trump could hit China with sanctions, including tariffs, in a matter of months.
Never heard of Section 301? It’s a golden oldie, for me triggering a pang of nerdy nostalgia for the 1990s when I covered the Clinton economic team for the Washington Post. Clinton and his advisers found Section 301 a useful weapon in their battle with that era’s trade bogeyman, Japan. They saw the provision as a kind of all-purpose legal loophole allowing the U.S. president to claim authority to impose whatever measures necessary, including tariffs, to remedy unfair trade practices—regardless of other U.S. commitments to global trade law.
Clinton used the provision to justify tariffs on Japanese imports of motorcycles and steel, and tiptoed right up the brink of issuing a 100% import tariff on Japanese luxury autos.
As Reuters notes, Section 301 investigations haven’t resulted in trade sanctions since the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1995. But in a way, threatening Japan with sanctions succeeded. Eventually large Japanese manufacturers like Toyota and Honda came to the conclusion that if they wanted to continue selling stuff to American consumers, they’d have to make said stuff in American factories employing American workers. These days, three of every four Japanese cars and trucks sold in the United States are manufactured in North America.
Is Trump simply lifting a page from the Clinton playbook? The recent pledge by Foxconn, the leading maker of Apple iPhones, that it would open a $10 billion factory in Wisconsin, seems broadly consistent with that interpretation.
But there are at least two reasons to doubt a Section 301 bluff will work with China. One is that China has developed a much larger, more sophisticated manufacturing ecosystem than Japan’s in the 1990s. My Fortune colleagues and I have been making this argument for much of the past year. (We hope to highlight some of the reasons we think China’s manufacturing ecosystem is so unique and so durable at this year’s Fortune Global Forum in Guangzhou.)
But don’t take our word for it. Bloomberg this week has a brilliant short video explaining why opening a Foxconn factory in Wisconsin won’t be enough to bring manufacturing jobs back to America.
A second reason for skepticism is that, in recent months, both the U.S. Congress and the Chinese government have grown wary of Chinese investment in the United States. Many proposed Chinese investments have languished while awaiting approval from Congress’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Meanwhile Beijing in recent weeks has tightened restrictions on Chinese companies expanding overseas.
In any case, Trump may abandon the idea of using Section 301 if China signs on to a United Nations resolution imposing new sanctions to pressure North Korea to end its missile and nuclear weapons program. Several reports, including this one in Politico, suggest a deal along those lines is in the works.
That may come as a relief to many U.S. companies operating in China, who fear that U.S. sanctions would trigger immediate retaliation by Beijing, and fear the risk of a trade war.
| Clay Chandler | |
| @claychandler | |
| clay.chandler@timeinc.com |
Internet Crackdown
Cook takes flak for Apple's app scrap. Apple CEO Tim Cook drew harsh criticism from free speech advocates for yanking 60 virtual private network (VPN) apps from its Chinese app store. Cook defended the move as consistent with Apple policy of "follow[ing] the law wherever we do business." BBC
And Amazon too. The Chinese partner of the Seattle-based e-commerce giant has instructed users of its cloud computing service in China not to host VPNs or other tools that can circumnavigate China’s firewall. Those failing to comply, the company warned, risked having their websites deleted. Wall Street Journal
China ISP's forced to practice pulling the plug. China's Ministry of Public Security Thursday led a three-hour drill with internet service providers across the nation– among them Microsoft's cloud service - to assure they know how to shut down web pages that host or use illegal content. Internet data centers and cloud companies also are required to hand over contact details, IP address and server locations for offending websites. New York Times
Bad bots banned. Tencent pulled two chatbots from its popular social media messaging app QQ after the AI-powered BabyQ and Xiaobing started responding with unpatriotic remarks. Business Insider
Politics and Policy
For China's leaders, a momentous beachside retreat. Communist party leaders decamped to the beach resort of Beihaide for their annual not-so-secret secret retreat. China watchers are tracking this year's conclave carefully because it comes ahead of this fall's 19th Party Congress, when several top officials will be replaced, and Xi Jinping is expected to push through key changes in party rules—such as reinstating the title of Party Chairman, a role last held by Mao Zedong—to consolidate and extend his influence for a potential third term in power. South China Morning Post
Guo Wengui's niece and employee convicted of fraud. Fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui may have be beyond the clutches of Beijing prosecutors but back in China his business associates and relatives are not. A Chinese court issued a suspended sentence for Guo's niece and ordered jail time for an employee of his real estate company. Both were charged with fraudulently obtaining loans. Guo's real estate company has been fined 150 million yuan (US$22 million). South China Morning Post
Liu Xiaobo's wife has 'fallen off the face of the earth.' American lawyers representing Liu Xia, the widow of late Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo say she is being held in an unknown location by Chinese authorities. Liu was under house arrest prior to her husband's death. Her lawyers say they have been unable to contact her since. Chinese authorities say Lu is a free citizen, and have suggested she hasn't gotten in touch with friends or her lawyers due to grief. BBC
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The Pope "loves China" Reuters
Trade, Economy and Tech
China's DJI teams up with arch-rival 3D Robotics. As part of the partnership, 3DR, which switched from making consumer drones to selling drone software for businesses, will integrate its software into DJI drones for use in the construction sector. Fortune
Alibaba's vending machine for cars. Forget potato chips or cans of Coke, Alibaba thinks you should be buying your next car from a vending machine. Later this year, Tmall, the Chinese e-commerce giant's B2C channel, plans to launch the "Automotive Vending Machine," a multi-storey garage loaded with new autos. Shoppers can browse and purchase vehicles via their phones, and then pick them up from the "machine's" ground floor. Alizila
Hong Kong's Gobee chases Chinese bike-sharing unicorns. Gobee, a six-month-old Hong Kong startup, has raised $9 million in Series A funding to take its dock-less bike rental service overseas. It follows in hot pursuit of Chinese unicorns Ofo and Mobike, who have raised more than $1 billion cumulatively and are now uperating in the UK and Singapore, with plans to reach 100 cities worldwide by the end of the year. Tech Crunch
Didi Chuxing uber alles. Chinese ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing is rolling into Europe and Africa with an investment in Taxify, a ride-sharing company based in Estonia. Didi's stake in Taxify follows investments in Southeast Asia's Lyft, Ola and Grab, and Brazilian start-up Brazil 99. Didi is now the market leader in China after merging with Uber China last year, and plans to use its latest investment to link transport services in Asia with those in Europe and Africa. The Drum
Summaries by Debbie Yong.
@debyong
debbie.yong@timeinc.com
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