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Wary of mounting tensions surrounding out-of-favor countries like China and Russia, multinational corporations are shifting operations to places that present less geopolitical risk. The trend has been labelled "friendshoring." While that's a play on "offshoring," this isn't about companies moving operations back to the United States or Europe, but rather seeking foreign alternatives that retain the benefit of low labor costs but with less international controversy. For now, the conversation is principally about China. “Every company that I speak to at the moment is engaged in rethinking their [China-focused] supply chains," Tony Danker, head of the Confederation of British Industry,...

Australia delivered a withering denunciation of China's trade policies Thursday, accusing Beijing of undermining the World Trade Organization and foot-dragging on promised economic reforms. During a usually routine WTO review in Geneva, Canberra's representatives said China had benefited "significantly" from 20 years of WTO membership but was not keeping its end of the bargain. ... ..."China has increasingly tested global trade rules and norms by engaging in practices that are inconsistent with its WTO commitments," the Australian government said in a statement. "By undermining agreed trade rules China also undermines the multilateral trading system on which all WTO members rely."...

China poured cold water on hopes for a trade deal, signaling it would retaliate against the U.S. threat to put Chinese tech companies on a blacklist, just two days ahead of the highly anticipated trade talks in Washington. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Tuesday said “stay tuned,” when asked whether China would retaliate for the blacklist over alleged human rights violations against Muslim minorities. “We urge the U.S. to immediately correct its mistake, withdraw the relevant decision and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs,” Geng said at a news conference according to a transcript on the Foreign Ministry’s...

The corporate media will never admit it, but President Trump has masterfully lined up support for America's pressure on China, and China has blinked and now wants "calm" talks.  Reuters reports: China is willing to resolve its trade dispute with the United States through "calm" negotiations and resolutely opposes the escalation of the conflict, Vice Premier Liu He, who has been leading the talks with Washington, said on Monday. (snip) Liu, speaking at a tech conference in southwest China's Chongqing, said nobody benefited from a trade war. "We are willing to resolve the issue through consultations and cooperation in a calm attitude and...

Experts are warning America has become too dependent on China for its medicine -- everything from painkillers, to antibiotics, and even aspirin can all be sourced back to a country the Department of Defense considers an adversary. The Food and Drug Administration estimates that at least 80 percent of the active ingredients found in all of America's medicines come from abroad – primarily China. "Imagine if China turned off that spigot," said Rosemary Gibson, author of "China RX: The Risks of America's Dependence on China for Medicine." "China's aim is to become the global pharmacy to the world -- it...

Most Americans have never thought twice about intellectual property. But they should.The US Patent & Trade Office estimates that the intellectual property associated with 81 industries added $6.6 trillion to global GDP in 2014, the last year there’s data. That same year, IP-intensive industries accounted for a staggering 38% of U.S. GDP, a figure that may approach 50% today thanks to the speed at which technology is advancing.Our nation depends on it.So does your investment portfolio.A recent CNBC poll found that 1 in 5 American companies have reported that the Chinese have stolen intellectual property from them over the past...

Technology can be a beautiful thing. But in the matter of who wields it, it can be vital to distinguish friend from foe. The late historian Samuel Eliot Morison, in his classic 15-volume naval history of World War II, bequeathed us a "grimly humorous" anecdote from the aftermath of the 1942 Doolittle Raid on Japan -- in which, in order to surprise Japan with a retaliatory bombing less than five months after Pearl Harbor, two U.S. aircraft carriers, the Hornet and the Enterprise, sailed much closer to Japanese waters than Tokyo was expecting. After U.S. bombers took off from...

News reports suggest that in the coming weeks, the United States and China might sign an agreement that repeals the tariffs the two nations have been levying on each other’s goods for the past nine months. If past behavior is any guide, Donald Trump will call it the greatest deal ever, and global markets will breathe a sigh of relief. But the deal will likely constitute only a modest pause in Washington’s growing hostility toward Beijing. That’s partly because, for Trump, no agreement is truly final. The president, The New York Times recently observed, “has repeatedly agreed to new trade...

“Those manufacturers who mainly sell to Europe and the United States need to start taking pain killers again,” said exporter Liao Yu, who produces bags and suitcases in Dongguan. “The cost of relocation is very high for small factories of our kind. But if you don’t move, how do you digest the tariffs? A 25 per cent [tariff] will kill everyone. Meanwhile, European and American customers are now using more suppliers in Southeast Asia to replace us. Trump is just a killer.” “We thought our products would be safe and excluded from the list [subject to US tariffs]. But Trump...

* World stocks slumped Thursday after US President Donald Trump accused China of scuttling the two nations' trade talks. * The news fanned fears that his threatened tariff increases on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods would kick in Friday. * "China broke the deal," Trump said at a rally Wednesday night. * Hardware stocks such as Nvidia, Intel, Microchip, Becton Dickinson, Seagate, and Western Digital fell by more than 3% as investors anticipated higher component costs and lower sales to China. * One analyst said "growth on a global scale will take a hit" if tariffs were to increase....

International squabbles have stopped a once-mighty chicken foot trade. Why China and America Fight Over Chicken Feet A large amount of ChinaÂ’s imported chicken consists of paws. All photos Kristi AllenAmericans eat a lot of chicken, clocking in at almost 100 pounds per person per year. However, thereÂ’s one part of the bird many overlook: the chewy, clawed feet.Chicken feet are a favorite treat around the world. Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, and many other countries all have their own classic preparations of chicken feet. If thereÂ’s one place where theyÂ’re most popular, itÂ’s China. Across the country, chicken feet are...

BREAKING - Top US Source says "deal is done" re #NAFTA. Joint statement from @USTradeRep & Canada's Freeland expected soon. I'm told #NAFTA deal was reached around 9:30pm tonight. Canada giving a larger % of its dairy market to US products in exchange for cultural protection & some form of dispute resolution process (formerly Ch 19).

As the latest salvos were fired in the growing trade war between the United States and China, concerns continue to mount in the business community about how just how long the conflict might endure. Alibaba group founder and China’s richest man Jack Ma recently spoke to an investor summit in Hangzhou, China regarding his thoughts on the direction the trade war may take. In his speech, Ma said the trade war was “going to be a mess,” and that regarding its potential duration it could last for “maybe 20 years.” Ma went on to compare the current trade dispute...

Minxin Pei With the imposition of 25% tariffs on $68 billion worth of their merchandise trade ($34 billion of exports each), the U.S. and China have fired the first salvos of their trade war. If one were to borrow a military analogy, the first round of the U.S.-China trade war is either a skirmish or a probing attack, as the amount of the two-way merchandise trade affected by the tariffs is about only 10% of the total U.S.-China trade. But everyone knows that the main battle will be joined soon. Besides the additional $32 billion merchandise trade targeted for punitive...

President Donald Trump is clearly concerned about the plight of American farmers. He pushed the Department of Agriculture to make available up to $12 billion of temporary relief to those farms caught in the middle of his tariff war – starting this Labor Day. It’s laudable that he wants to address this problem, but let’s remember that it was a problem of his own creation. America is a breadbasket to much of the world because of our exceptional farmland. We have about two-and-a-half times as much arable land as does China, for instance, with about the same landmass. That means...

Apple could be used as a 'bargaining chip' in the trade war, Chinese state media warns Apple has benefited from cheap labor and strong supply chain in China which has helped it boost profit and get to a $1 trillion valuation, the state-backed People's Daily said. The U.S. firm should share that money with Chinese citizens, the article urged. Apple could be the target of "anger and nationalist sentiment" amid the ongoing trade war. Apple has benefited from cheap labor and a strong supply chain in China and needs to share more of its profit with the Chinese people...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. economic growth accelerated to an annual rate of 4.1% in the second quarter, compared with a revised 2.2% in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday. This is the fastest rate of growth in almost four years. The second quarter gain was close to the 4.2% rate economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast. The acceleration of real gross domestic product in the second quarter reflected a jump in consumer and government spending.

Has a trade war started? The stock market doesn’t suggest that a full-scale trade fight between China and the U.S. has erupted, but a tweet from Ray Dalio, founder of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, implies otherwise. Friday afternoon, Dalio tweeted: “Today is the first day of the war with China.” Today is the first day of the war with China. — Ray Dalio (@RayDalio) July 6, 2018 The tweet from the founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, which manages some $160 billion, comes after the U.S. slapped levies on $34 billion of 25% on China’s exports at midnight, and...

China offered to purchase nearly $70 billion of U.S. farm, manufacturing and energy products if the Trump administration abandons threatened tariffs, according to people briefed on the latest negotiations with American trade officials. In weekend talks in Beijing, Chinese negotiators led by Liu He, President Xi Jinping’s economic envoy, presented a U.S. team headed by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross a package that includes Chinese companies buying more U.S. soybeans, corn, natural gas, crude oil, coal and manufactured goods. Chinese and U.S. officials estimated the value of the package at nearly $70 billion in the first year. President Donald Trump has...

Trade war fears that have roiled the markets for two weeks intensified Thursday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling more than 700 points and adding to concerns that stocks could be headed for a larger reckoning. Thursday’s selling, which sent shares of manufacturers, aluminum producers and steelmakers sharply lower, marked the culmination of months of growing investor anxiety over the course of U.S. trade policy. It came at a time when many say the market was already under pressure, gripped by fears over rising interest rates and sliding technology shares. Trade tensions ratcheted higher, as the Trump administration said...