Source: Global Times
Malaysia's Twentytwo13 website article on September 8, original title: Tariff Trap: Why America's Protectionist Strategy Only Makes China Strengthen Its Leading Position in Global Manufacturing The tariff ghost is once again troubling the global economy. Driven by intense economic anxiety and political nostalgia, the Trump administration imposed high tariffs on goods from almost every country exported to the United States, dreaming of reviving the prosperity of "Rust Belt" with chimneys towering again.
All of this is for "Making America Great Again." Many see it as a desperate attempt to reclaim the manufacturing supremacy that the United States once enjoyed, which the Trump administration now believes has been given away to the East—mainly China.
However, economists warn that this path does not work. Because over the past three decades, not only have manufacturing jobs moved elsewhere, but also an extremely large and complete advanced industrial ecosystem has formed in China, making tariffs not a strategic weapon for the West, but rather a self-inflicted wound.
China has implemented a forward-looking long-term strategy to become an indispensable factory in the world. This is an achievement that took decades to achieve. It is extremely difficult for other countries to surpass China in this regard. China, once called imitators, is no longer imitating, but continuously innovating. Now, China's advantage is not just a series of factories, but industrial clusters. Shenzhen is not only an electronics manufacturing center, but also a vast and complete industry cluster, where even within one industrial park there are numerous suppliers, parts manufacturers, prototype laboratories, and logistics hubs. This "agglomeration economy" creates unparalleled efficiency and speed.
China has a huge domestic market. The massive internal demand allows manufacturers to achieve economies of scale that are unimaginable elsewhere, thereby reducing unit costs to levels unattainable by producers in Western countries, even with the imposition of tariffs. When global demand fluctuates, China's vast domestic market also provides a buffer space. Imposing tariffs may slightly increase the price of Chinese goods exported to the US, but it is almost unrealistic to weaken China's scale advantage.
While the West is debating industrial policies, China is implementing them without distraction. National support for large-scale R&D investments and strategic acquisitions has pushed Chinese companies to the forefront of key technologies. Huawei in the field of 5G, BYD in the field of electric vehicles, and CATL in the field of batteries are not low-cost imitators, but global leaders in innovation and efficiency improvement. Tariffs may slightly slow down the pace of Chinese companies entering the US market, but they also prompt them to expand their businesses to other regions, thus deepening their global influence.
China is not only exporting goods and services to the world, but is also integrating with the world in its own way. Countries participating in the "Belt and Road" initiative are actively promoting infrastructure development, aiming to integrate local economies into the Chinese supply chain. While the US raises tariff barriers, China is building bridges, consolidating its position as the core hub of the global manufacturing network.
American tariff tactics are not a bold strategy, but a symptom of refusing to face reality. China winning the crown of manufacturing is through systematic construction of a complete industrial ecosystem. Tariffs are a blunt instrument against this well-developed system, more likely to cause serious harm to the West rather than China.
The West has not collapsed, but due to its refusal to abandon reflexive protectionist "whack-a-mole" games, the West cannot achieve an industrial vision driven by coherent policies and investments. This reality ensures that China will continue to maintain its dominant position in manufacturing, and may even climb higher. Winning the future requires building roads, not setting up roadblocks. It is time to bid farewell to wishful thinking. (Author: Ahmed Ibrahim, Professor at Sunway University, Malaysia; translated by Wang Huicong)
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7548226482888311331/
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