Wall Street Journal (December 9)
President Trump promised “a manufacturing boom. He got one—in China.” Cementing its ”status as the world’s indispensable factory floor…. Chinese industrial production broke records this year as its factories churned out more cars, machinery and chemicals than ever before. Despite the disruptions of tariffs, the country’s trade surplus in goods has set a record, as growing shipments to Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa offset the hit from Trump’s levies on direct sales to the U.S.”
Tags: Africa, Asia, Cars, Chemicals, China, Europe, Factories, Indispensable, Industrial production, Latin America, Machinery, Manufacturing boom, Shipments, Status, Tariffs, Trade surplus, Trump, U.S.
Washington Post (December 6)
“Trump and Vance promised their trade and immigration policies would usher in a new golden age, leading to a renaissance of new factories that would employ native-born workers…. Yet manufacturing contracted for the ninth straight month in November… as factories face slumping orders and higher prices for inputs because of tariffs.” Republican leaders are urging consumers to “relax.” This is neither “a winning economic message” or at all “soothing… when you’re struggling to pay for groceries, let alone Christmas presents.”
Tags: Consumers, Economic message, Factories, Golden age, Groceries, Immigration, Manufacturing, Native-born, Prices, Relax, Slumping orders, Struggling, Tariffs, Trade, Trump, Vance, Workers
The Economist (September 20th to 26th)
China’s workforce “has undergone an extraordinary transformation,” diversifying from its base in farming and factories. The world’s largest workforce now includes some 200 million “precarious” gig workers, who provide “a warning for the world.” With technology remaking labor markets, 40% of the labor force in urban areas is now dependent “on some kind of flexible work,” yet many of these gig workers “struggle to buy property and gain access to public services and benefits.” This transformation “will shape China’s economy and society for years to come.”
Tags: 200 million, Benefits, China, Economy, Factories, Farming, Flexible work, Gig workers, Labor markets, Precarious, Property, Public services, Technology, Transformation, Urban, Warning, Workforce
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 (April 6)
“It’s downright scary,” but the future is “not in America.” President Trump and his administration are “focused on what teams American transgender athletes can race on” while “China is focused on transforming its factories with A.I. so it can outrace all our factories.” Trump is ramping up “tariffs while gutting our national scientific institutions and work force that spur U.S. innovation.” Meanwhile, China is ramping up “research campuses” and “A.I.-driven innovation to be permanently liberated from Trump’s tariffs.”
Tags: A.I., China, Factories, Future, Gutting, Innovation, Outrace, Race, Research campuses, Scary, Scientific institutions, Tariffs, Transforming, Transgender athletes, Trump, U.S.
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.
Wall Street Journal (December 14)
“Falling prices in China” are causing havoc “as factories struggle to cope with overcapacity and weak demand.” This is increasing pressure “on Beijing to take more forceful action to prevent a downward spiral of deflation that becomes self-reinforcing, potentially landing China in a longer-term recession.”
Tags: China, Deflation, Downward spiral, Factories, Falling prices, Havoc, Overcapacity, Recession, Self-reinforcing, Struggle, Weak demand
Wall Street Journal (September 19)
“A few years ago, auto executives weren’t sure there would be enough buyers for plug-in electric models. Now, they worry they can’t build them fast enough, while they intensify a multibillion-dollar rush to accelerate timelines and bring factories online.” In July, EVs and PHEVs accounted for “five of the six fastest-selling vehicles in the U.S,” where EVs have tripled in vehicle share over the past two years as “sales of other types of vehicles have declined.” Waiting lists now exceed a year for new electric models at GM and Ford.
Tags: Accelerate, Auto executives, Buyers, EVs, Factories, Fast enough, Fastest-selling, GM, PHEVs, Rush, Share, Timelines, U.S., Vehicles, Waiting lists
Wall Street Journal (July 19)
“As China’s factory-gate prices soared this year, investors worried the country would become a new source of inflation for the rest of the world. Instead, the world’s second-largest economy has helped alleviate some price pressures caused by the pandemic.” Many Chinese factories have been “absorbing higher costs for raw materials like copper and iron ore themselves.” It appears this will continue “at least for a while.”
Tags: Absorbing, Alleviate, Copper, Factories, https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-china-is-helping-to-damp-global-inflation-11626616802?cx_testId=200&cx_testVariant=cx_10&cx_artPos=5#cxrecs_s China, Inflation, Investors, Pandemic, Price pressures, Prices, Raw materials, Worried
