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[They sell us poison and crap.]

Most of it isn’t that. Apple alone* probably accounted for $50b of China’s trade surplus. The relationship between the US and China is similar to the relationship between Google and the janitorial services company it hires to clean its offices. Apple hires Taiwan’s Foxconn to assemble its iPhones, iPads and Apple TV’s so it doesn’t have to put manufacturing employees on its payroll. Apple employees have deluxe pay packages and benefits. Foxconn employees, like those for Google’s janitorial services provider, don’t**. When tariffs on iPhones are implemented, Foxconn will probably move its assembly operations out of China. Only sheer inertia prevented Foxconn from moving to Vietnam, where wage rates are 1/4 China’s. Whereas Chinese salaries exceeded Mexico’s 3 years ago. https://www.mdna.org/rising-salaries-prompt-china-to-send-factory-jobs-to-mexico/

* That’s factoring in iPhones, iPads, Apple TV’s, Apple watches. A 2016 (i.e. prior year) iPhone model accounted for $16b of China’s trade surplus in 2017. https://qz.com/1234437/the-iphone-alone-accounts-for-16-billion-of-the-us-trade-deficit-with-china/

** Lest you think Foxconn is a real slave driver, it actually pays pretty well compared to other employers in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/11/30/apple-and-foxconn-are-the-best-thing-thats-ever-happened-to-chinese-labour/#3ce9f36e3cf9 And that’s in a country where wages have gone up 5-6x in real terms since 2000.