While the trade dispute between the US and China is leaving scores of companies in a state of confusion and uncertainty, some beneficiaries are emerging.
RT’s Boom Bust talked to Richard Wolff, a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts, to find out which nations may capitalize on the trade turmoil, and if China would inevitably lose its former markets, including the US.
According to the expert, domestic and foreign companies in China started looking for the cheapest labor across Asia and all over the world long before the tariffs due to the dramatic increase in wage costs in China. Professor Wolff stressed that there are many ways, legal or illegal, to get around the import tariffs.
“For example, long before the US even recognized the People’s Republic of China, the quantity of goods coming into the US labeled ‘Made in Hong Kong’ was incredible,” the economist said, stressing that everybody understood that those products were made in China, shipped to Hong Kong, shipped out with changed labels, and “everybody gets along.”
Wolff believes that the Chinese are clever and have had a lot of experience in how to avoid tariffs and keep doing business.
”A lot of countries around the world, not just in Asia, but everywhere, are willing to cooperate, because then they get a piece of the trade between China and the US,” he said.
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