Twenty years ago, as a young student, I took a class in China on doing business there. On the plane over, I got talking to an American who had been doing business there for a good 10+ years. His advice was as true today as it was then: we are allowed to do business there so long as it benefits the Chinese, especially in terms of the transfer of intellectual property and industrial knowledge. A few years after that meeting, my father-in-law’s company went into a co-venture, and like hundreds ( or more ?) of other American firms, eventually saw their venture taken over by the Chinese partner. How many US firms, from bicycles to electronics, have seen perfect clones of their products flood the market as their products were produced by day, and by night, the same assembly line produced knock-offs under a Chinese brand?
But it doesn’t matter. So long as there are a billion potential consumers, American companies will be consumed with their greed, and believe that they can succeed. As The Economist recently wrote, we have completely misunderstood and underestimated China. They have no interest in US companies being successful there.
Tariffs are not the answer; they make us look like a fading empire stuck in the past. Learning to compete and not just rest on our laurels of being the victors of World War Two is the only way for the US to move forward in the world.
Twenty years ago, as a young student, I took a class in China on doing business there. On the plane over, I got talking to an American who had been doing business there for a good 10+ years. His advice was as true today as it was then: we are allowed to do business there so long as it benefits the Chinese, especially in terms of the transfer of intellectual property and industrial knowledge. A few years after that meeting, my father-in-law’s company went into a co-venture, and like hundreds ( or more ?) of other American firms, eventually saw their venture taken over by the Chinese partner. How many US firms, from bicycles to electronics, have seen perfect clones of their products flood the market as their products were produced by day, and by night, the same assembly line produced knock-offs under a Chinese brand?
But it doesn’t matter. So long as there are a billion potential consumers, American companies will be consumed with their greed, and believe that they can succeed. As The Economist recently wrote, we have completely misunderstood and underestimated China. They have no interest in US companies being successful there.
Tariffs are not the answer; they make us look like a fading empire stuck in the past. Learning to compete and not just rest on our laurels of being the victors of World War Two is the only way for the US to move forward in the world.