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This strategy is just as transparent as it sounds. Eventually US/EU regulators will find out and shut it down. A similar thing recently played out when a Chin

This strategy is just as transparent as it sounds. Eventually US/EU regulators will find out and shut it down. A similar thing recently played out when a Chinese company owned by the son of a major Chinese aluminum smelting magnate tried to cross ship about a ridiculous quantity of aluminum through Mexico. In this case, certain rules may need to be amended, but that is not outside the realm of possibility. > But concentration of manufacturing know-how remains in China. The US and EU had a monopoly on manufacturing know how for all sort of things until some executives voluntarily transferred that to the (then) third world in order to maximize short term profits. Their successors have spent the last decade shifting semiconductor production from China to lower cost countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand.

erikb 9y ago
You assume that the US and EU politicians aren't actually fine with it.
- varjag 9y ago
  If they were fine with it, there wouldn't have been quotas for China in the first place.
  - sfifs 9y ago
    Remember that the prime objective of a politician is to retain power. These quotas are responses to demands from electorate to do something to win their votes... not necessarily because they want or don't want them. In fact it's probably in their best interests to play it both ways as what the GP comment implies.
factsaresacred 9y ago
> executives voluntarily transferred that to the (then) third world in order to maximize short term profits They gave China their secret sauce (well, actually, China demanded it as a prerequisite) in return for access to one billion new customers. China then cloned the tech and under-priced the foreign competition. See: High-speed rail, wind-turbines etc. Can't say if it was the 'right' thing to do for Western companies. But it was brilliant for China, who are now, in turn, buying up Western manufacturing companies.
- Boothroid 9y ago
  The US did similar to Europe back in the 1800s, and plenty of evidence to suggest they are still at it today e.g. NSA etc.
  - alexanderstears 9y ago
    Not trying to be confrontational but is there any evidence that that NSA is engaged in industrial espionage?
- mattmanser 9y ago
  Those billion consumers had no money to buy anything. They gave away their secret sauce for cheap workers and bad ('good') labor laws, and lost all internal expertise, had their products cloned. The Chinese market started becoming a thing a decade or two after Made in China became a thing.
mastazi 9y ago
> Eventually US/EU regulators will find out and shut it down. As I said in another comment in this thread, in the EU (e.g. Prato in Italy) there are examples of this strategy that date back to the 80's, so I wouldn't be so sure about the willingness of the EU regulators to shut them down. Some background info here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/world/europe/13prato.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/world/europe/13prato.html

erikb 9y ago

You assume that the US and EU politicians aren't actually fine with it.

varjag 9y ago
If they were fine with it, there wouldn't have been quotas for China in the first place.
- sfifs 9y ago
  Remember that the prime objective of a politician is to retain power. These quotas are responses to demands from electorate to do something to win their votes... not necessarily because they want or don't want them. In fact it's probably in their best interests to play it both ways as what the GP comment implies.

factsaresacred 9y ago

> executives voluntarily transferred that to the (then) third world in order to maximize short term profits They gave China their secret sauce (well, actually, China demanded it as a prerequisite) in return for access to one billion new customers. China then cloned the tech and under-priced the foreign competition. See: High-speed rail, wind-turbines etc. Can't say if it was the 'right' thing to do for Western companies. But it was brilliant for China, who are now, in turn, buying up Western manufacturing companies.

Boothroid 9y ago
The US did similar to Europe back in the 1800s, and plenty of evidence to suggest they are still at it today e.g. NSA etc.
- alexanderstears 9y ago
  Not trying to be confrontational but is there any evidence that that NSA is engaged in industrial espionage?
mattmanser 9y ago
Those billion consumers had no money to buy anything. They gave away their secret sauce for cheap workers and bad ('good') labor laws, and lost all internal expertise, had their products cloned. The Chinese market started becoming a thing a decade or two after Made in China became a thing.

mastazi 9y ago

> Eventually US/EU regulators will find out and shut it down. As I said in another comment in this thread, in the EU (e.g. Prato in Italy) there are examples of this strategy that date back to the 80's, so I wouldn't be so sure about the willingness of the EU regulators to shut them down. Some background info here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/world/europe/13prato.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/world/europe/13prato.html