The Economist (June 14)
“The world must escape the manufacturing delusion.” Nearly everywhere you turn, “politicians are fixated on factories.” They want to win them, open them, expand them and bring them home. But this fixation “with factories is built on myths—and will be self-defeating…. the global manufacturing push will not succeed. In fact, it is likely to do more harm than good.”
Tags: Escape, Expand, Factories, Fixated, Global, Harm, Manufacturing, Manufacturing delusion, Myths, Open, Politicians, Self-defeating, Succeed, World
Wall Street Journal (June 3)
“As exports of rare-earth magnets have virtually ground to a halt, carmakers face hard decisions about whether they can continue to keep some plants operating.” Major U.S. automakers are considering work arounds like “producing electric motors in Chinese factories or shipping made-in-America motors to China to have magnets installed.” If they do “end up shifting some production to China, it would amount to a remarkable outcome from a trade war initiated by President Trump with the intention of bringing manufacturing back to the U.S.”
Tags: Automakers, Carmakers, China, Decisions, Electric motors, Exports, Factories, Halt, Manufacturing, Plants, Production, Rare-earth magnets, Trade war, Trump, U.S.
New York Times (May 20)
The Chinese century “may already have dawned, and when historians look back they may very well pinpoint the early months of President Trump’s second term as the watershed moment when China pulled away and left the United States behind.” China “already leads global production in multiple industries — steel, aluminum, shipbuilding, batteries, solar power, electric vehicles, wind turbines, drones, 5G equipment, consumer electronics, active pharmaceutical ingredients and bullet trains.” China is “laser-focused on winning the future.” In contrast, “Mr. Trump is taking a wrecking ball to the pillars of American power and innovation. His tariffs are endangering U.S. companies’ access to global markets and supply chains. He is slashing public research funding and gutting our universities, pushing talented researchers to consider leaving for other countries. He wants to roll back programs for technologies like clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing and is wiping out American soft power in large swaths of the globe.”
Tags: 5G, Aluminum, Batteries, Bullet trains, Chinese century, Clean energy, Consumer electronics, Drones, Electric vehicles, Endangering, Global markets, Innovation, Laser-focused, Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical ingredients, Research, Semiconductor, Shipbuilding, Solar power, Steel, Supply chains, Tariffs, Trump, Wind turbines, Wrecking
South China Morning Post (May 19)
“China’s economy mostly remained resilient in April, despite feeling the effects of the astronomical tariffs in place before last week, when Washington and Beijing agreed to remove or pause most of the duties imposed as part of their tempestuous trade war.” Though consumption softened, manufacturing fared better than expected. “China’s industrial output rose 6.1 per cent, beating estimates, while domestic consumption up 5.1 per cent–slightly below expectations.”
Tags: Agreed, April, Beijing, China, Consumption, Duties, Economy, Estimates, Industrial output, Manufacturing, Resilient, Tariffs, Trade war, Washington
Reuters (March 26)
“Thanks to advances in AI, chips and hardware, the United States and China are now racing to develop humanoid robots that can be deployed in factories, restaurants, hospitals and even households. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently declared that in less than five years, humanoid robots will be widely used in manufacturing.” At the moment, “China has shaky upper hand in battle of the robots” and tremendous motivation to succeed. The country faces a tremendous “labour crunch: in 2021 officials forecasted a shortage of nearly 30 million manufacturing workers by 2025” and this is projected to grow worse as China’s workforce continues to contract.
Tags: AI, Battle, China, Chips, Crunch, Factories, Hardware, Hospitals, Households, Huang, Humanoid, Labour, Manufacturing, Nvidia, Restaurants, Robots, Shortage, U.S.
Chicago Tribune (September 8)
Amidst the flood of steel from China, “Nippon Steel was well advised to look for ways to strengthen its hand” while “the U.S. Steel board of directors was free to approve the $14.9 billion acquisition offer, as they did in April.” Nippon Steel believes “the investment will revitalize American steel manufacturing and pay dividends in further industrial cooperation, and most economists, liberal and conservative, agree.” Unfortunately, the merger is being uprooted by politics.
Tags: $14.9 billion, Acquisition, Approve, China, Dividends, Economists, Investment, Manufacturing, Merger, Nippon Steel, Politics, U.S. Steel
Markets Insider (August 3)
“Japan’s stocks took a hit on Friday, fueled by economic concerns in the US and the Bank of Japan’s interest-rate hike earlier this week.” Closing down 5.8%, the Nikkei marked “its largest daily decline since March 2020 after hitting record highs earlier this month.” The Nikkei was not alone. Amid signs of a cooling economy, U.S. stock indices “tanked across the board over the past two days due to a combination of discouraging economic data points, including rising unemployment and slowing manufacturing and construction.”
Tags: 2020, 5.8%, BOJ, Construction, Cooling, Decline, Discouraging, Economic concerns, Friday, Interest-rate hike, Japan, Manufacturing, Nikkei, Record highs, Stocks, U.S., Unemployment
Straits Times (July 15)
“Thailand’s decades-long manufacturing-driven economic model is broken.” The nation “has witnessed nearly 2,000 factory closures in the last year, upending its manufacturing sector that contributes nearly a quarter of its gross domestic product (GDP).” The main drivers appear to be “cheap imports from China and a slide in industrial competitiveness due to factors including rising energy prices and an ageing workforce.”
Tags: Ageing workforce, Broken, Cheap imports, China, Economic model, Energy prices, Factory closures, GDP, Industrial competitiveness, Manufacturing, Thailand
Financial Times (May 27)
“What industry could replace” real estate “as the main driver of growth in China?” The automobile industry may look promising, but it’s a mere fraction of the size and creates other problems. China’s massive manufacturing sector already “exceeds domestic demand and expanding exports would encounter more trade friction with other countries.” Education and healthcare, on the other hand, have received insufficient spending. These areas would present the market with business opportunities and bring “substantial potential for growth” to the Chinese economy.
Tags: Automobile, China, Demand, Domestic, Education, Exports, Growth, Healthcare, Industry, Manufacturing, Real estate, Sector, Trade friction
Financial Times (May 10)
“The UK economy has exited last year’s technical recession with faster than expected growth of 0.6 per cent for the first quarter.” This beat the BoE forecast and marked the fastest quarter-on-quarter growth since 2021. Growth was “driven by a 0.7 per cent increase in services output, suggesting stronger consumer activity as inflation fell. Manufacturing output grew 1.4 per cent, driven by car production which has grown for six consecutive quarters.”
Tags: 0.6%, 2021, BOE, Car production, Consumer activity, Economy, Expected, Fastest, Forecast, Growth, Inflation, Manufacturing, Q1, Services, Technical recession, UK
