Moaning, hostility no solution to global trade stability

ZTE suspended its main operations after a U.S. ban on exports of American supplies to its business. 聽 漏 Reuters
Trump hints at easing of ZTE sanctions
Concession on Chinese smartphone maker likely to play into trade negotiations
TAISEI HOYAMA, Nikkei staff writerMay 14, 2018 01:40 JST聽聽Updated on May 14, 2018 11:00 JST
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump vowed Sunday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping would cooperate to give Chinese smartphone maker ZTE "a way to get back into business, fast," suggesting a relaxation of U.S. sanctions on the company. ZTE has been forced to suspend its main business operations due to a seven-year halt on transactions with U.S. companies. "Too many jobs in China lost," Trump wrote on Twitter. "The Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!" In trade talks with U.S. in early May, China demanded an easing of sanctions on ZTE, as the world's two largest economies sought to relieve simmering trade tensions. Trump may be looking to smooth the ongoing negotiations, as U.S. officials prepare for the next round of talks to be held in Washington this week with Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He … for more, go to https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Trade-tensions/Trump-hints-at-easing-of-ZTE-sanctions 

Moaning, hostility no solution to global trade stability

KUALA LUMPUR (May 2018): The Bloomberg report titled Apple CEO says he told Trump tariffs are wrong approach to China is worth digesting for the rest of the world.

The global trade war, sparked by the trigger-sanction-tariff-happy Donald Trump, appears to be tapering.

I Love Malaysia-China Silk Road hopes that President Trump and the US have come to their senses that a head-on collision, escalating the trade war, will only produce losers and rock the world economy.

A protracted trade hostility between the US and China will only result in losses for both countries, jolting the world economy as well.

Both the US and China must realise that the only way for them and the rest of the world to progress economically is to respect free trade.

If one is losing out in trade, you don’t moan and complaint of unfair trade practices.

Any country is free to plan and strategise their economic and trade policies on a level playing field.

If the plan and strategy are ineffective, you have only yourself to blame … and it only means you need to review and revise your plan, strategy and policies.

Moaning and hostility will not get one anywhere.

Here’s the Bloomberg report:

"Apple CEO says he told Trump tariffs are wrong approach to China

TECH NEWS
Tuesday, 15 May 2018
5:55 PM MYT
by alistair barr

Cook acknowledged that previous trade policies were flawed but said Trump’s move is also problematic. — AFP

Apple Inc chief executive officer Tim Cook said he criticized Donald Trump’s approach to trade with China in a recent White House meeting, while urging the president to address the legal status of immigrants known as Dreamers.

In an interview on Bloomberg Television, Cook said his message to Trump focused on the importance of trade and how cooperation between two countries can boost the economy more than nations acting alone.

Cook met with Trump in the Oval Office in late April amid a brewing trade war between the US and China. The Trump administration instituted 25% tariffs on at least US$50bil (RM197.74bil) worth of products from China, sparking retaliation. In the interview on The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations, Cook acknowledged that previous trade policies were flawed but said Trump’s move is also problematic.

“It’s true, undoubtedly true, that not everyone has been advantaged from that – in either country – and we’ve got to work on that,” Cook said. “But I felt that tariffs were not the right approach there, and I showed him some more analytical kinds of things to demonstrate why.”

Apple generated US$35bil (RM138.41bil) in revenue from the Americas in the most recent holiday quarter, while sales in China reached almost US$18bil (RM71.18bil). China has become one of Apple’s most important markets since Cook became CEO in 2011, and the company now has 41 retail stores in the region, the most outside of the US.

Closer to home, Cook said he asked the president to find a resolution for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children. Lawmakers have so far failed to negotiate a legislative replacement for the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme that spared Dreamers from deportation. “We’re only one ruling away from a catastrophic case there,” Cook said.

Apple has been more supportive of a Trump-backed law that slashed corporate taxes. It’s especially beneficial for Apple and other large US technology companies that have hundreds of billions of dollars held overseas and are now bringing that money back. Cook said Apple will inject US$350bil (RM1.38tril) into the US over the next five years, through tax payments, hiring, a new campus and US$30bil (RM118.64bil) in capital expenditure.

“We’re also going to buy some of our stock because we view our stock as a good value,” Cook told Rubenstein in the interview. “It’s good for the economy as well because if people sell stock they pay taxes on their gains.”

Cook also touched on Apple’s fast-growing services business, saying the Apple Music streaming service now has more than 50 million users on either paid subscriptions or free trials. Last month, the company passed 40 million subscribers, with 8 million trying the service out through free trials. Apple still lags Spotify Technology SA, which said this month that it has 75 million paying customers.

Rubenstein co-founded Carlyle Group LP, a private-equity firm that invested in the Beats consumer-electronics and streaming businesses. Apple acquired the venture in 2014 and turned the streaming operation into Apple Music, while keeping the Beats device brand.

Cook indicated that Apple will make a stronger push into streaming video and original TV shows and movies but declined to provide specifics. “We are very interested in the content business. We will be playing in a way that is consistent with our brand,” Cook said. “We’re not ready to give any details on it yet. But it’s clearly an area of interest.” — Bloomberg"

The United States government threatened the continued existence of ZTE as a business last month, when the Commerce Department ordered a seven-year halt in American shipments of computer microchips and software that lie at the heart of most of ZTE’s gear.CreditJohannes Eisele/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Trump Shifts From Trade War Threats to Concessions in Rebuff to Hard-Liners
By Ana Swanson, Mark Landler and Keith Bradsher
May 14, 2018
查看简体中文版查看繁體中文版
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s recent threat to impose tariffs on as much as $150 billion worth of Chinese goods appeared to be the first volley in what looked like a full-scale trade war with the nation’s greatest economic adversary. Now, suddenly, Mr. Trump seems ready to make peace. To alleviate trade tensions, Mr. Trump is considering easing up on a major Chinese telecommunications company, ZTE, in exchange for China agreeing to buy more American products and lifting its own crippling restrictions on American agriculture, people familiar with the deliberations said. The shift is an abrupt reversal that reflects another twist in the pitched battle inside the White House between the economic nationalists, who channel Mr. Trump’s protectionist instincts, and more mainstream advisers, who worry about the effects of hard-line policies on the stock market and long-term economic growth … for more, go to https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/business/china-trump-zte.html