Trump administration pushing to rip global supply chains from China: officials - msnNOW
abasalaka.blogspot.com
FILE PHOTO: Containers of Chinese companies China Shipping and COSCO (China Ocean Shipping Company) are loaded on a container as it is leaving the port in Hamburg
FILE PHOTO: Chinese and U.S. flags flutter near The Bund in Shanghai
2/2 SLIDES
Replay Video
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is "turbocharging" an initiative to remove global industrial supply chains from China as it weighs new tariffs to punish Beijing for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, according to officials familiar with U.S. planning.
Load Error
President Donald Trump, who has stepped up recent attacks on China ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election, has long pledged to bring manufacturing back from overseas.
Now, economic destruction and the massive U.S. coronavirus death toll are driving a government-wide push to move U.S. production and supply chain dependency away from China, even if it goes to other more friendly nations instead, current and former senior U.S. administration officials said.
"We’ve been working on [reducing the reliance of our supply chains in China] over the last few years but we are now turbo-charging that initiative," Keith Krach, undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment at the U.S. State Department told Reuters.
"I think it is essential to understand where the critical areas are and where critical bottlenecks exist," Krach said, adding that the matter was key to U.S. security and one the government could announce new action on soon.
The U.S. Commerce Department, State and other agencies are looking for ways to push companies to move both sourcing and manufacturing out of China. Tax incentives and potential re-shoring subsidies are among measures being considered to spur changes, the current and former officials told Reuters.
“There is a whole of government push on this,” said one. Agencies are probing which manufacturing should be deemed "essential" and how to produce these goods outside of China.
Trump's China policy has been defined by behind-the-scenes tussles between pro-trade advisers and China hawks; now the latter say their time has come.
"This moment is a perfect storm; the pandemic has crystallized all the worries that people have had about doing business with China," said another senior U.S. official.
"All the money that people think they made by making deals with China before, now they’ve been eclipsed many fold by the economic damage" from the coronavirus, the official said.
ECONOMIC PROSPERITY NETWORK
Trump has said repeatedly that he could put new tariffs on top of the up to 25% tax on $370 billion in Chinese goods currently in place.
U.S. companies, which pay the tariffs, are already groaning under the existing ones, especially as sales plummet during coronavirus lockdowns.
But that does not mean Trump will balk at new ones, officials say. Other ways to punish China may include sanctions on officials or companies, and closer relations with Taiwan, the self-governing island China considers a province.
But discussions about moving supply chains are concrete, robust, and, unusually for the Trump administration, multi-lateral.
The United States is pushing to create an alliance of "trusted partners" dubbed the "Economic Prosperity Network," one official said. It would include companies and civil society groups operating under the same set of standards on everything from digital business, energy and infrastructure to research, trade, education and commerce, he said.
The U.S. government is working with Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Vietnam to "move the global economy forward," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said April 29.
These discussions include “how we restructure ... supply chains to prevent something like this from ever happening again," Pompeo said.
Latin America may play a role, too.
Colombian Ambassador Francisco Santos last month said he was in discussions with the White House, National Security Council, U.S. Treasury Department and U.S. Chamber of Commerce about a drive to encourage U.S. companies to move some supply chains out of China and bring them closer to home.
China overtook the United States as the world's top manufacturing country in 2010, and was responsible for 28% of global output in 2018, according to United Nations data.
The pandemic has highlighted China's key role in the supply chain for generic drugs that account for the majority of prescriptions in the United States. It has also shown China's dominance in goods like the thermal cameras needed to test workers for fevers, and its importance in food supplies.
HARD SELL FOR COMPANIES
Many U.S. companies have invested heavily in Chinese manufacturing and rely on China's 1.4 billion people for a big chunk of their sales.
"Diversification and some redundancy in supply chains will make sense given the level of risk that the pandemic has uncovered," said Doug Barry, spokesman for the U.S.-China Business Council. "But we don’t see a wholesale rush for the exits by companies doing business in China."
A family rides their bicycle with children across the Parco Sempione park on May 4 in Milan as Italy starts to ease its lockdown.
People go to work as authorities ease the lockdown in Abuja, Nigeria on May 4.
Thai immigration officials wearing protective masks and visors line up at the start of their shift at Suvarnabhumi International airport in Bangkok, Thailand on May 4. Some airlines have resumed domestic flights after the Thai government eased restrictions that were imposed to curb the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Henri de Chassey, wearing a protective face mask, kisses his partner Margaux Rebois, who is returning to Paris on board a Thalys high-speed train after spending 2 months in Brussels, on the first day of the easing of lockdown measures, on May 4.
Residents who were arrested by police for violating stay at home orders are detained at a basketball court on May 4 in Manila, Philippines.
Domenico di Massa embraces his granddaughter Cecilia for the first time in two months after Italy allowed families to see each other again as the country begins a staged end to a nationwide lockdown, in Rome, Italy on May 4.
Teachers greet each other in an elementary school reopened following the ease of restrictions preventing the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on May 3.
Rio's Christ the Redeemer statue is lit up as if wearing a protective mask on May 3 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Medical equipment, which Turkey prepared to send to Somalia, are being loaded to the A400M military plane to be sent to Somalia from Ankara, Turkey on May 4.
Health workers rest near the NYU Langone Hospital on May 3 in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.
People are seen at Broadway Market, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on May 3 London.
Supporters of far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro take part in a protest during a motorcade against the president of the Chamber of Deputies Rodrigo Maia, quarantine and social distancing measures, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, on May 3 in Brasilia, Brazil.
Warming up before a morning jog along the waterfront of the Kazanka River; starting from May 1, individual physical exercise once a day between 5 and 7am is available among the options covered by the digital pass system introduced by Tatarstan amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
A young girl holds a guitar as a musician performs for local residents, in Enfield, England, on May 3.
Migrants wait to board buses to the port, where they will be transferred to the mainland, in Lesbos, Greece, on May 3.
People sit in their cars watching a movie in a drive-in cinema at the Milad Tower parking space, in Tehran, Iran, on May 3.
Actors dressed as King Leo and Queen Constance wearing protective masks ride horses along the street as a festive procession marking the City Day was canceled, in Lviv, Ukraine, on May 3.
Customers' protective masks hang on their ears as they eat food in Chinatown after the government started opening some restaurants outside shopping malls, parks, and barbershops, in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 3.
People enjoy the day at a beach after no local coronavirus cases have been recorded for 2 weeks in Hong Kong, on May 3.
A young Nepalese girl is sprayed with disinfectants as she arrives to get free food distributed by social workers during the lockdown, in Kathmandu, Nepal, on May 3.
Golden Statues at the Trocadero square near the Eiffel Tower wear protective masks as the lockdown continues due to the coronavirus pandemic, on May 3, in Paris, France.
Indian Navy's Chetak helicopter drops flower petals on the staff of INHS Asvini hospital as part of an event to show gratitude towards the frontline workers fighting the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Mumbai, India, on May 3.
A pet groomer wears a face mask as she tends to a dog in Bangkok, on May 3, after the business was reopened as the Thai government eased measures aimed at combating the spread of the novel coronavirus.
A model rehearses with a fabric face mask on, designed by Zhou Li for her Autumn/Winter 2020 collection show, during China Fashion Week in Beijing, following the novel coronavirus disease outbreak, on May 3.
People queue outside a B&Q store in Greenwich, in London on May 3, as the DIY giant opens all their stores ahead of a general easing in the nationwide lockdown.
Immigration officers wearing full protection suits gather at a coronavirus lockdown area in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 3. Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin says the economy needs to be revived as billions have been lost during the partial lockdown that began in March.
Health workers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant on a local woman in an alley during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown in Kathmandu, Nepal, on May 3.
An electronic sign board showing 'Beach closed' and a surfer are seen on Bondi Beach on May 3, in Sydney, Australia. 'Surf & Go' measures are currently in place for weekend and no beach access allowed except along designated pathways to water.
People follow social distancing markings as they line up at a shopping mall after the Saudi government eased a curfew and allowed stores to open on May 2 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
A view shows the arch of the General Staff Building and the State Hermitage Museum on May 2 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
The Euromast tower is seen with red light as part of an international tribute to health care workers battling the coronavirus on May 2 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
A long line of vehicles wait to be controlled by members of the Guardia Nacional Republicana (National Republican Guard) at a checkpoint set up off the A5 highway near Cascais hospital to prevent non-permitted travel on the second day of GNR/PSP joint operations after the Portuguese Government enhanced movement restrictions on May 2 in Alcabideche, Portugal.
People wearing face masks walk by the shore of the Mediterranean sea amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions on May 2 in Ashkelon, Israel.
President of Madrid Community, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, Spanish People's Party (PP) leader Pablo Casado and Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez Almeida pose with Madrid firefighters during events of May 2 in Madrid, Spain.
The Ferry family, from Chantilly, Virginia, who were in the middle of taking a family photograph, are surprised by a second flyover by the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds, in a "salute to frontline COVID-19 responders," as seen near the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial that depicts a flag raising over Iwo Jima, in Arlington, Virginia, on May 2.
Men box during the hours in which individual exercise is allowed outdoors, for the first time since the lockdown was announced, in Barcelona, Spain, on May 2.
People who couldn't return to their hometowns due to a lockdown amidst concerns about the spread of coronavirus disease wait to travel to their villages using special transport organized by the government, at a public ground in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on May 2.
Believers attend the first mass open to the public, after the 45-day-long closure of church services in Zagreb, Croatia, on May 2.
People queue in front of a Louis Vuitton store after the government reopens bigger shops as well as small businesses in a loosening of the lockdown in Vienna, Austria, on May 2.
Passengers wearing face masks wait for their trains at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 2. South Korea reported fresh cases of the new coronavirus and are continuing a month-long shutdown.
A man rides a bike at the seafront on May 1 in Naples, Italy.
Passengers wearing face masks as a preventive measure on May 1 at Don Muang International Airport. Thai AirAsia and Thai Lion Air resumed flights on domestic routes after flying was temporarily halted.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike inspects a Pepper humanoid robot, manufactured by SoftBank Group Corp. and a cleaning robot Whiz a during a press preview of a hotel of APA Group that has been designated to accommodate asymptomatic people and those with light symptoms of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to free up hospital beds and alleviate work by nurses and staff members, in Tokyo, Japan May 1.
A customer receives her order inside a prototype location of fast food giant McDonald's for restaurants which respect the 1.5m social distancing measure, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Arnhem, Netherlands, on May 1.
A Wizz Air Airbus A320 from Sofia, Bulgaria taxis to a gate after landing at Luton Airport after Wizz Air resumed flights today on some routes, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Luton, England on May 1.
Workers Unions keep a safe distance from each other and wear face masks to help protect against the spread of the new coronavirus during an event marking May Day in Lisbon, Portugal on May 1.
The Plaza Barber Shop in Grand Forks did a steady business after reopening as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum announced that businesses such as restaurants, bars, and hair salons previous, closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, may reopen, with precautions, on May 1.
Plastic face shields are hung up to dry after being sprayed with disinfectant, on a fence outside a ward for those who have tested positive for the new coronavirus, at the infectious disease unit of Kenyatta National Hospital, located at Mbagathi Hospital, in Nairobi, Kenya on May 1.
A family is seen at the Taipei Children's Amusement Park, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Taipei, Taiwan on May 1.
Empty chairs arranged to display "SOS" are placed at the Neumarkt square to call attention to the difficult situation of hotel and restaurant owners, in Dresden, Germany, on May 1.
50/50 SLIDES
Slideshow by photo services
John Murphy, senior vice president for international policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that U.S. manufacturers already meet 70% of current pharmaceutical demand.
Building new facilities in the United States could take five to eight years, he said. "We're concerned that officials need to get the right fact sets before they start looking at alternatives," Murphy said.
Trump White House pledges to punish China have not always been followed by action.
A move to block global exports of chips to blacklisted Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, for example, favored by hawks in the administration and under consideration since November, has not yet been finalized.
(Additional reporting by Alex Alper, David Lawder, Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom; Writing by Heather Timmons; Editing by Tom Brown)
0 Response to "Trump administration pushing to rip global supply chains from China: officials - msnNOW"
Post a Comment