China has pledged to expand business with South American nations through the use of its new container harbor in Chancay, Peru, and establish a new route for the shipment of goods there.  ,
In 2019, the state-owned Cosco Shipping Ports acquired 60 % of the Chancay interface from a Colombian sulphides worker for US$ 225 million. The port’s switch cost US$ 3.5 billion before being completed. According to Xinhua, the initial phase of the slot project reduces shipping times between China and Peru by 35 to 23 days, resulting in a 20%-plus-2 % reduction in shipping charges.
On November 14th, Xi Jinping, the Taiwanese president, held a meeting online in Peru to officially launch the Chancay megaport. Since then, Taiwanese press and commentators have been promoting the agency’s anticipated contribution to China’s expansion of trade and implementation of its Belt and Road Initiative. According to the pundits, the claims that Chinese exporters you relabel their goods or resell them and send them to the US are of particular interest to US trade warriors.
It’s still to be seen how that may turn out. Mauricio Claver-Carone, an assistant to US President-elect Donald Trump’s transition group, has said that the 60 % tariffs that Trump has vowed to impose on Chinese products may also apply to items that go through the fresh Chancay deep-water dock from any state.
” Any product going through Chancay or any Chinese-owned or controlled port in the region should be subject to 60 % tariff, as if the product was from China”, Bloomberg quoted Claver-Carone as saying in a phone interview.
He added that the work would protect the US from cargo, a process that allows Chinese goods to enter the US through a third region and finally re-export to the US at lower tax rates than strong shipments.  ,
He said cargo in Latin American countries, like as Mexico, has been a vital issue to the US for some time.
Follows’ cleaning outposts’ in Vietnam, Mexico
Some Chinese experts point out that this is not China’s first “bathing bases” set up abroad for the transshipment of its goods.
More and more Chinese firms are willing to “take a bath” by putting” Made in Vietnam” names on their semi-finished goods and re-export them to the US and Europe as a result of the growing business tension between China and the US, according to a Hubei-based journalist who uses the moniker” Yinlujiao” in an article.
He claims that China’s renewable products account for more than 90 % of the world’s business share and that the US and Europe are primary import locations for them. However, in recent years, Foreign thermal product manufacturers have been forced to set up factories and assemble their semi-finished goods in Vietnam to avoid additional tariffs due to trade barriers in Europe and the US.
He claims that Chinese center managers, suppliers, and manufacturers have all contributed significantly to Vietnam’s rapidly expanding cotton and technology industries.
In addition, many Chinese manufacturers of automobile, computer, and construction equipment have established factories in Mexico, trying to “wash away” their products ‘ country of origin and rebrand them as” Made in Mexico.”
Powerful re-exports
The new levies, according to the Global Times, are mostly symbolic because the US is not a major market place for Chinese steel and aluminum materials, despite US officials ‘ claims that the walk might close a significant gap that China had relied on to avoid US taxes.  ,
Since the US-China trade war broke out in 2018, Chinese companies have relied on Vietnam and Mexico as shipping centers to avert an additional 25 % US price, according to Ma Yu-chun, an assistant research fellow at the Chung-Hua Institute for Economic Research.
According to Ma, Chinese manufacturers gradually increased their local production capacities in Vietnam and Mexico to maintain low US tariffs when Washington began to complain about these transshipments. In such circumstances, he says, the US has to tighten its rules further – for example, by imposing tariffs on products that use Chinese components.  ,
According to a writer in Beijing who uses the pseudonym” Huashan Qiongjian,” the Trump administration might not want to impose additional tariffs on products from Peru because the US has a trade surplus with the South American nation.  ,
If steel products from Mexico are melted and poured in Mexico, Canada, or the US, the Biden administration announced in July of this year that they will be subject to a 25 % tariff.  ,
Trump frequently criticizes South American nations, including China and Mexico, but he says he rarely criticizes those who have a trade surplus with the US.  ,
Besides, he says, Chinese goods can first go to Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia before departing for Chancay port. He claims that this approach can promote trade between China and its neighbors.  ,
In short, Beijing’s strategy to fight Trump’s war is simple: Ship its products to and assemble them in third countries before re-exporting them to the US. The US is unable to impose additional tariffs because the network’s sophistication makes it more difficult to do so.
Yong Jian, a Chinese journalist who specializes in Chinese technology, economy and politics, is a regular contributor to Asia Times.
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