Earlier this month, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) said it would be temporarily halting production at a plant in Kragujevac, Serbia due to a lack of parts from China, while Hyundai and Renault have done the same in South Korea.
You can whitewash your supply chain by slapping an western label on Chinese parts. But this isn’t demonstrating any kind of concern for labor rights or ethical insourcing. FFS, we won’t even let Volkswagon plants in Tennessee unionize.
Nevermind Uyghur slave labor. Americans can’t even bargain for better salaries. Its too much for our fragile economy to handle.
That was true of those brands. They’ve since been pulling out of China, leaving abandoned factories that are now being used by the Chinese market. There are still plenty of other ethical options for automobiles.
Many nations are cracking down on imports related to Uyghur labor.
In December 2021, Congress passed, and President Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) – the strongest tool the United States or any other country has forged in the fight against the atrocities of forced labor.
Firstly, no they haven’t. US trade with China has only ever increased year-over-year going back to the 1960s.
Secondly, our hunger for cheap labor is sending us to penal colonies across the rest of the Pacific Rim. This isn’t something that began or ended with a single factory in a single country.
Many nations are cracking down on imports related to Uyghur labor.
Upon the review of the ASPI report, Skechers said it contacted senior management at Luzhou prior to conducting two additional audits of the factory — none of which revealed any indications of forced labor. Luzhou, however, did confirm that members of the Uyghur ethnic group did comprise a portion of its workforce but were employed under compliant terms and conditions.
Shoving thumbs in my ears and saying “I don’t see the non-compliance, its all fine actually!” and letting the provisions go completely unenforced.
Tariffs aren’t great solutions, but the only alternative would be outright banning. The latter would have a sudden and financially profound impact on American consumers.
Again, I agree, but my comment was about automobiles.
Nearly 40% of Honda’s automobile production took place in China in the last financial year.
Honda would continue to keep its supply chain in China for the domestic market in the world’s second-largest economy while building a separate one for markets outside of China, the Sankei said. It did not say where it got the information.
That’s not “pulling out of China”. That’s a sign of Chinese domestic automobile consumption rising.
Biden has expanded Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to include more imports.
I haven’t seen much to suggest he’s enforcing it. These laws are consistently toothless, in the same way more and more of our regulatory system is toothless.
And they’re all complicit. BMW, Volkswagon, Jaguar Land Rover all source parts from China.
In fact, the entire US supply chain is reliant on Chinese parts.
You can whitewash your supply chain by slapping an western label on Chinese parts. But this isn’t demonstrating any kind of concern for labor rights or ethical insourcing. FFS, we won’t even let Volkswagon plants in Tennessee unionize.
Nevermind Uyghur slave labor. Americans can’t even bargain for better salaries. Its too much for our fragile economy to handle.
That was true of those brands. They’ve since been pulling out of China, leaving abandoned factories that are now being used by the Chinese market. There are still plenty of other ethical options for automobiles.
Many nations are cracking down on imports related to Uyghur labor.
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2024/05/23/enforcing-uyghur-forced-labor-prevention-act
https://www.politico.eu/article/china-forced-labor-ban-europe-us-uyghur-xinjiang/
Firstly, no they haven’t. US trade with China has only ever increased year-over-year going back to the 1960s.
Secondly, our hunger for cheap labor is sending us to penal colonies across the rest of the Pacific Rim. This isn’t something that began or ended with a single factory in a single country.
They’re not. The business is just being laundered through front companies.
Shoving thumbs in my ears and saying “I don’t see the non-compliance, its all fine actually!” and letting the provisions go completely unenforced.
And that’s before you get into direct sales through Ali Baba and Temu
Again, I agree, but my comment was about automobiles. You have the habit of misrepresenting my point.
https://boydcoddingtonwheels.com/car-companies-pulling-out-of-china/
https://www.iwkoeln.de/en/studies/juergen-matthes-competitive-pressure-from-china-for-german-companies.html
https://www.ft.com/content/d88955d4-2bc8-476e-9cdb-882ca3c3b10d
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/us-lawmakers-press-automakers-cut-reliance-china-over-supply-chains-bloomberg-2023-06-19/
As for other consumer goods, Biden has expanded Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to include more imports.
https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/enforcement/section-301-investigations/tariff-actions
Tariffs aren’t great solutions, but the only alternative would be outright banning. The latter would have a sudden and financially profound impact on American consumers.
That’s not “pulling out of China”. That’s a sign of Chinese domestic automobile consumption rising.
I haven’t seen much to suggest he’s enforcing it. These laws are consistently toothless, in the same way more and more of our regulatory system is toothless.