Chinese maker of Trump shoes fears nominee’s protectionist rhetoric
US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s barrage of criticism against China and his advocacy of protectionism as a way to save the US domestic economy have worried the Chinese manufacturer of shoes sold under his daughter Ivanka’s eponymously named apparel brand, though experts believe that Trump’s protectionist moves will ultimately harm the US economy.
“Partly because of Trump’s promises to set up protectionist trade policies against China during his election campaign, our company is worried that orders from the US may fall if Trump is elected president,” Liu Shiyuan, a spokesperson for Huajian Group – one of China’s biggest women’s shoe manufacturers based in Dongguan, South China’s Guangdong Province – told the Global Times on Friday.
The company has been making Ivanka Trump-brand shoes for nearly a decade. Onethird of Ivanka Trump shoes made in China are produced by Huajian, which manufactures more than 20 million pairs of shoes annually, mainly for European and US brands, according to Liu.
A business manager at Huajian who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Friday that the company produces nearly 2 million pairs of shoes every year for the Ivanka Trump brand.
The company website also boasts dozens of brand names well-known to customers worldwide, such as Clarks, Coach and Calvin Klein.
Orders from overseas have already been falling in recent years because of the world economic slowdown, Liu said.
Huajian expressed its concern that the situation could worsen after Trump reiterated his tough stance on trade with China when he formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday.
In his speech at the Republi- can National Convention in the US city of Cleveland, Ohio, Trump vowed to keep jobs in the US and “make America rich again” by not signing “bad trade deals” with countries including China.
He again accused China of “outrageous theft of intellectual property,” “illegal dumping” and “devastating currency manipulation.”
“All political parties in the US should view China’s development in an objective and rational manner and correctly understand the issues that emerge from bilateral ties,” Lu Kang, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was quoted by the Xinhua News Agency as saying on Thursday.
Increasingly serious unemployment in the US has encouraged Trump to have to use China as a scapegoat to win votes from blue-collar workers, a stock in trade adopted by numerous presidential candidates over the years, Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.
However, experts believe that it will be difficult and even unrealistic for Trump to fulfill his promises if he is elected president, due to checks from the Democratic Party and the US Congress, as well as the damage such policies would inflict on the US itself.
“Trade protectionism does not necessarily bring the desired results such as an employment rate hike,” He Weiwen, co-director of the China-US-EU Study Center at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Friday.
“Other countries sanctioned by the US may take vengeful countermeasures that will ultimately hurt the US economy,” he said. “Besides, even if many US enterprises’ overseas manufacturing plants are moved out of China, they will not go back to the US but will instead be relocated to Southeast Asian nations with low labor costs.”
The US media revealed the hypocrisy of Trump’s trade rhetoric earlier this year when several organizations reported that ties and suits sold under the Donald J. Trump brand were being manufactured in China. The media also pointed out that shoes sold in New York department stores under the Ivanka Trump brand were “definitely made in China,” as photos of the shoes’ packaging surfaced on the Internet.
US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Thursday that he is going to lead the country back to safety. He also said he will put America first and replace globalism with Americanism.
His words on the final day of the Republican convention were sensational.
“On January 20 of 2017, the day I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced,” he said.
He also attacked China, as usual, accusing the country of “outrageous theft of intellectual property,” “illegal dumping” and “devastating currency manipulation.”
At least Trump is frank, pointing out real issues that are troubling Americans, including poverty and violence, immigrants and terrorism, economic doldrums and a shortage of jobs, as well as war and destruction abroad.
Trump was at first considered a joke by American elites, but he beat the Republican party machine and rose against the will of many establishment Republicans. Apparently, he knows the wills of the mass of middle- and lower-class voters better than other Republicans.
Most of these promises may not materialize in the end. When a country as large as the US has been on a certain track for a long time, it is very difficult to change course. The changes will also hurt some interest groups, who will fight back.
It is also unlikely that there will be any major change to international policies, such as the US’ NATO policies or Asian strategies.
However, even if Trump loses to Hillary Clinton, the questions he has raised will continue to resonate. Although the US may not be able to carry out major adjustments, the country is no longer strong enough to support globalism. More people may call for Americanism.
No matter who becomes the next US president, the country’s current situation and the fact that its people want better jobs and lives will determine the policymaking strategy of the future US administration. Although a Cold War mentality may still dominate US elite groups, generally speaking, there is limited space for US politicians to sacrifice huge Sino-US trade benefits and push the country’s geopolitical competition with China to the edge.
The new president cannot count on anti-China rhetoric to win over constituents. China is not the main reason for US economic problems.
The US political system has determined that presidential candidates’ policy promises are aimed at votes instead of real reform. Reform requires the entire society to share risk and pain.
But a US president in peaceful times is not likely to have the courage to lead the people to endure these pains. Trump is no exception.