industrial overlord

Chapter 607 Trade Deficit
Beijing, Friendship Hotel.

Lin Zhenhua and Huang Gang walked into a small conference room, and stood up from the sofa. An American with a smile on his face walked two steps quickly, came to Lin Zhenhua, stretched out both hands to hold Lin Zhenhua's hand, and firmly held it. After shaking, he said, "Lin, I'm so glad to see you. We haven't seen each other for several years, right?"

Lin Zhenhua also smiled and replied: "Isn't it? It's been several years. Ford, let me first congratulate you on being elected as a member of Congress. I have been worried that if you become a member of Congress, you will no longer know me as a small business owner. "

The person talking to Lin Zhenhua was his old friend Ford, a former Spiescher technician.The friendship between Lin Zhenhua and Ford has been around for 20 years. He helped Lin Zhenhua get his first pot of gold, and later became a non-staff salesman of Hanhua overseas.During these 20 years, the cooperation between Lin Zhenhua and Ford has never been interrupted.With the support of Hanhua, Ford first made his income into a well-off level, and then became a millionaire.

A few years ago, Ford left the Spischer Company and started to run for a member of Congress. Lin Zhenhua gave him a lot of campaign funds and other support, and finally made him a member of Congress as he wished. policy people.

As a witness who witnessed Lin Zhenhua's growth from a young worker to the chairman of a large enterprise group, Ford has a sincere admiration for Lin Zhenhua.Lin Zhenhua was responsible for half of his success in running for parliament, and if he wanted to have more say in parliament, he would not be able to do without the support of business executives like Lin Zhenhua, so he never hesitated to express My passion for Lin Zhenhua.

"Lin, don't laugh at me. Without your support, I, a congressman, will be nothing more than an officer without soldiers. By the way, how do you say this sentence in Chinese?" Ford patted his head desperately recalled.

"It's called Guanggan Commander." Lin Zhenhua prompted in Chinese.

"Yes, yes, it's called Guanggan Commander." Ford also said this word in broken Chinese to show his friendliness to China.

"Ford, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Huang Gang, the deputy director of the State Planning Commission of China. Didn't you say that you hope to get to know some Chinese officials? Mr. Huang Gang is a very powerful official." Lin Zhenhua He pulled Huang Gang over and introduced him to Ford.

With a smile on his face, Huang Gang shook hands with Ford reservedly, and said, "Rep. Ford, you are very welcome to come to China. I hope we can have some good cooperation."

Bringing Huang Gang to talk with Ford is an integral part of Lin Zhenhua's strategy of cultivating Western agents.Of course, this kind of matter is a policy choice at the national level, and it is definitely not something that a business leader like Lin Zhenhua can decide.During these days, Lin Zhenhua repeatedly lobbied Chen Tian, ​​Huang Gang and other officials, and these people submitted this idea to the powerful "relevant departments" for discussion.

Finally, under the unified deployment of the central government, a plan to cultivate Western agents was finally introduced secretly. This plan requires all departments to actively build their own network resources in the West, and subtly exert influence on the policies of Western countries in order to achieve differentiation. Disintegrate the purpose of those international forces that contain China.

Lin Zhenhua started to establish foreign network resources relatively early. His overseas high-level relations include President Nale of Usanga in Africa, President Puyuzin of Russia, President Zaviz of Venezuela, etc. Congressman, Cisse, who may become the head of the United States in the future.Ford is also one of his relationships. Compared with Cisse, the relationship between Ford and Lin Zhenhua is closer. They belong to a group of iron buddies who have shared the spoils. Lin Zhenhua supported Ford to run for parliament, originally wanting him to be his agent of.

Ford also introduced his entourage to Lin Zhenhua and Huang Gang, and then the two parties sat down as guests and hosts. Lin Zhenhua asked, "Ford, do you have any specific tasks for your visit to China this time?"

"My most important task is naturally to visit you, my old friend. Compared with this task, other tasks are secondary." Ford said exaggeratedly.

Huang Gang only felt a chill all over his body, but he also sincerely admired Lin Zhenhua's influence.It is also very difficult for an American congressman to flatter him so much.

Lin Zhenhua was used to Ford's flattery, he smiled and said: "Thank you very much, but now that we have met and your most important task has been completed, can we talk about those less important things? "

"Of course, of course." Ford responded graciously, "The less important thing is that there are a lot of criticisms in the United States about the large US-China trade deficit. Congress has held several rounds of hearings, hoping to reverse the opposition. Regarding the issue of China's large deficit, I have come here specifically to communicate with Chinese personnel on this matter."

"You mean specialized?" Lin Zhenhua smiled and picked out Ford's contradictory words.

Of course Ford knew that this was just a joke between Lin Zhenhua and him, and he pretended to be serious and corrected: "I mean, the communication deficit issue is the most important thing besides visiting you."

"Well, Ford, I hope that friendship between us will always come first and competition second. Whether it is a surplus or a deficit, it should not be an obstacle to our friendship." Lin Zhenhua emphasized.

"Of course." Ford replied hastily.This is not a joke. Ford was the first to participate in Hanhua Machine Tool Company’s acquisition of Luzhong Machine Tool Factory. In order to use his American identity, Lin Zhenhua gave him 5% of the shares.Later, Hanhua Group integrated its resources, and the 5% dry shares owned by Ford were also merged into the group. The remaining proportion was less than 1%, but it was also worth several million dollars.With such an economic connection, how could Ford not care about his friendship with Lin Zhenhua?

"Lin, let me introduce the situation to you." After the face-saving words, Ford got to the point, "According to the statistics of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. trade deficit with China last year totaled 830 billion U.S. dollars. The deficit in the first half of this year It also exceeded 400 billion, which is not a small number."

"China's surplus isn't that big, is it?" Huang Gang interjected, "I remember that China's surplus with the US was only 300 billion U.S. dollars last year, and this year's maximum is about 300 billion U.S. dollars. How could it be 400 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of the year?"

"This is the statistics of our Ministry of Commerce. Of course, I know that this should be the difference caused by the different statistical calibers of the two countries." Ford said.

Huang Gang smiled slightly, and stopped talking. Of course, he knew that this was the influence of the caliber. He said this only for the need of bargaining.

The so-called surplus and deficit are relative to their own country. What Americans call a deficit is a surplus for the Chinese.In recent years, the quantity of Chinese goods exported to the United States has been increasing, while the export of American goods to China has not changed much. As a result, the deficit on the US side in Sino-US trade has continued to expand.

In terms of calculating the scale of surplus or deficit, the calibers of countries are indeed different.The United States also includes many goods produced in China and then re-exported to the United States through other countries into the statistical scope of its deficit with China.The Chinese side did not recognize this, which led to a difference of several million in the numbers calculated by the two sides.

Chinese goods have to be re-exported to the United States through other countries, which is caused by the US import quota system.For example, the U.S. imports USD 1000 billion of textiles a year. It will not simply say that it will buy whatever is cheap. Instead, it will divide the USD 1000 billion into several quotas, importing USD 500 billion from China and importing USD 100 billion from Vietnam. , importing 100 billion from Malaysia, etc.

After more than ten years of development, China has become a veritable world factory with a very strong production capacity. The textile quota of 500 billion US dollars is not enough for Chinese enterprises to eat, but they want to increase exports to the United States, but they are restricted by the quota and cannot achieve it.Smart Chinese business owners came up with a way. They shipped the textiles they produced to Vietnam, where they paid 5 cents to put a label on them, and then they became Vietnamese products, which can be exported with the quota of Vietnam in a grandiose manner. Went to America.

Of course, Americans are not so stupid that they don’t know the tricks in the middle. In fact, American importers like this kind of tricks, because Chinese products are much better than Vietnamese products in terms of quality and price. Of course, they are willing to use this A legal means to transfer Vietnam's quota to China.

The U.S. Department of Commerce turned a blind eye to this phenomenon. Anyway, they have already done what they should do, and it is hard for others to say anything.It is absolutely impossible for them to smash the jobs of American importers.

However, when Congress questioned the Department of Commerce on the issue of Chinese goods, the U.S. Department of Commerce still carefully singled out those products originating in China and included them in China’s exports, thus drawing a comparison China's statistical caliber is much broader than the deficit data.

A foreign trade deficit is a bad thing for any country.In today's world, production capacity is no longer the bottleneck, and the most scarce economic resource is the market.The existence of a deficit is equivalent to the occupation of the domestic market by foreign companies. The most direct impact is that the unemployment of workers continues to increase. It is no wonder that the US Congress has to hold a hearing on this.

Of course, Congress attaches great importance to the deficit issue, which does not mean that members of Congress really care about the national economy and the people's livelihood, but because such issues are easy to hype and can attract more attention and votes for themselves.

Ford volunteered to go to China to communicate about the deficit because of such considerations. If he can get more benefits in China, he will never mind expanding the deficit from China several times.Anyway, things like national policy mean that dead friends don't die poor people. Who would be guilty of offending their own benefactors for national affairs?

To members of Congress, things like integrity are no more valuable than spit-up toilet paper.

(End of this chapter)