When a factory in one of these cities designs a new product, others nearby can quickly copy or produce their own slightly different version. There is even a Chinese word for these types of dupes: Shanzhai. Create an ecosystem as densely concentrated and iterative quickly as this took years of concentrated effort. “All of this requires a significant amount of flexibility in the supply chain. I do not think that none of this is built in one day – it requires long -standing cooperation between technical workers at different levels, ”explains Zhang.
Factories do not appear overnight
Many owners of American companies have told Wired that when they have explored manufacturing at the national level in the past, they have encountered a wide range of challenges, such as higher costs, problems of dissemination of raw materials, a lack of available workforce and regulatory restrictions.
Logan says he has once “passed the idea” to start his own needle cartridge manufacturing line in the United States, but he learned that it would cost about 8 to 10 million dollars just to operate the factory, including the cost of machines, the manufacture of mussels and the construction of a sterilization service. China is also the only country that produces the automated machines it would need, which are always subject to Trump’s prices if it should have tried the ground at the moment.
Kim Vaccarella, the founder and CEO of a handbag company called BOGG, manufactures EVA products, an oil-type oil-type by-product also used for tips and yoga carpets. Vaccarella says that it is possible to manufacture EVA products in Vietnam, but when she has been researching the supply from there, she found that many factories were Chinese engineers belonging to the Chinese and employed. “China has mastered Eva. They have been doing shoes in Eva for over 20 years, so it was really our first choice, ”explains Vaccarella.
If Bogg tried to move its manufacture in the United States, Vaccarella says that it believes that it should also hire Chinese talents to ensure that the production lines have been properly installed. But she is worried, it would be difficult, especially given the current Trump administration policies to reduce immigration. “With everything that is happening with our borders, it will be difficult to obtain visas for Chinese counterparts to come and can help us create this business?” she asked.
Another challenge is that the supply chain of many products is already entirely globalized, with different stages spread between different regions which each have their own unique comparative advantages. Take lithium for a battery, for example, which can first be extracted in Chile or Australia, then sent to China to refine, then sent to Japan or Korea to be wrapped, then finally sent to Europe or the United States to be put in a car.
“The displacement of this kind of supply chains in the United States would essentially mean that American factories must win in each node, not just the final product. And I think it’s a real challenge, ”explains Hugh Grant-Chapman, a stock market associated with the Center for Strategic Studies studying trade and politics in the context of relations with American China.
Always in limbo
With Trump’s pricing policies that change almost every week, business owners do not know what the status of their businesses will be tomorrow. Some have ceased to place orders for products and supplies for the moment, while others close, at least temporarily.
Walton, the seller of the espionage equipment, says that he does not order in China for the moment, but some of his colleagues have product containers currently in transit to the United States and impatiently check what the new rate rate on them will be. He also heard that some friends are preventing preventively to prepare for potential economic difficulties to come.
“In the end, companies want things to be right, and they don’t want to lose customers or employees,” explains Charlotte Palermino, co -founder of the Skincare Gods, who expressed the prices of prices on social networks. “What these prices are doing is that they make us choose between our employees or our customers. Anyway, it’s bad for the economy. ”