America’s tariff wall on Chinese imports looks increasingly like Swiss cheese
As avoidance booms, so does the trade deficit
“AN EASY WAY to avoid Tariffs? Make or produce your goods and products in the good old USA. It’s very simple!” In the days when Twitter was the main medium for presidential proclamations, that was what Donald Trump recommended to companies using China as a manufacturing base. He was half right: avoiding tariffs has proved to be quite simple. What he failed to see, though, was that avoidance is an eminently viable strategy for companies staying put in China.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Artful dodging”
Finance & economics February 26th 2022
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