The trade war strikes foreign companies in China with double definitions

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Foreign manufacturers in China pay 125 percent duties to import components, then 145 percent to export them to the United States, where Donald Trump destroys its operations.

International companies and joint projects represent nearly a third of China’s total trade, according to official data that show the extent of their definitions.

Large American companies such as Apple and Tesla and many smaller producers are dependent on China as a manufacturing base. These companies often import raw materials or components of the United States to assemble to products that are exported after that.

Economists said that this leaves them vulnerable to the possibility of paying the American and Chinese tariffs on the same goods, after Trump escalated sharply on all Chinese exports to 145 percent, which led to revenge on Beijing.

“Foreign companies are actually pressed in the Chinese market,” said Hyay Tang, Director of the World Institute of Asia at Hong Kong University. “If they are importing, they pay the Chinese definitions. When they return to the United States, they pay American definitions.”

“They were hit twice.”

The fully or partially owned companies in the country formed $ 980 billion from China’s exports last year, or more than a quarter of imports and 820 billion dollars, or more than a third, data from the General Administration of China for the customs and accounts showed by financial times. China set a record surplus trade Almost one dollar last year.

The export machine was built in China against the background of the fully owned companies of the foreigners, including companies from Hong Kong and Macau, which sought to benefit from the huge and low -cost labor market in the country to manufacture goods.

The companies that are invested in foreigners, as they are called in China, were 55 percent of the country’s total trade in 2008.

This share has decreased over the years as China has developed a more aggressive policy for industrial self -reliance. But the institutions that have been invested abroad still represent 29.6 percent of trade in dollars in dollars last year, according to government figures.

They were only 16 percent of China’s surplus last year, as the amount of foreign companies was compensated for exports through their largest share of total imports.

“There are a number of foreign companies operating in China that are not American but depend on American inputs and are thus affected as well,” said Michael Hart, President of the American Chamber of Commerce. Chinese Ministry of Commerce Consider exemptions on the definitions of some sectorsHart said.

China gives some exemptions from its customs duties to companies that import components and raw materials for the goods that will be re -exported, known as the “treatment trade”.

Some large American manufacturers, including smart phone makers and some electronics producers, also have The temporary exemptions From Trump.

But with the trade war, many foreign companies may still find it high for export from China, especially the smaller producers.

China -based China -based China -based China -based Kitchen Enterprises, which manufactures kitchen and household products in China, which is imported by the US -based retail dealers, including Walmart, said it imports TRITAN, a form of plastic, from Eastman, which is based in the United States.

“We were beaten by dual definitions on the products with this article,” Rochd said. “Once Import the material, and again when exporting the final goods.”

He said that China granted the exemption of customs tariffs if the final product was exported to the United States during a certain period of time. But China did not grant exemption if the product was exported to countries other than the United States.

Economists have warned that the trade war could cause a decrease in foreign direct investment flows in China, which decreased 27.1 percent in 2024 in the previous year of Renminbi terms, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

“For those who enter China to serve the Chinese market, they may still come. But if your goal is to serve other markets, especially the United States, you will be hurt,” said Chio Dongsiao, head of the Economics Department at the University of Lingan at Hong Kong.