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Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert

wsj.com

51–60 of 168 posts

Re: Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert

#51
post #46

This is a simple duty arbitrage play. For anyone wondering what he actually did wrong, there are a few key points to note. Aluminum (and all materials, really) is exported and imported and duties are paid on the basis of the HS code and (if there is a trade agreement to be taken advantage of) certificates of origin (COO) along with the usual shipping docs. China is inclined to tax exports of primary aluminum because…

I'm missing the part of this scheme where you need to have a large cache of aluminum in any form to make this work.

Related: The Chinese regulations on export of neodymium magnets is similarly structured. Exporting the magnets or the raw metallic ingredients is subject to high tariffs, but export of finished products using them is not. This isn't just about energy exports though, it's straight up protectionism of their manufacturing businesses.

Re: Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert

#53
post #46

This is a simple duty arbitrage play. For anyone wondering what he actually did wrong, there are a few key points to note. Aluminum (and all materials, really) is exported and imported and duties are paid on the basis of the HS code and (if there is a trade agreement to be taken advantage of) certificates of origin (COO) along with the usual shipping docs. China is inclined to tax exports of primary aluminum because…

A similar, and perhaps more amusing, situation happened in Canada a few years ago. We have a 245.5% import tariff on cheese (why? Because dairy farmers are more important than poor people, apparently) but there was a much lower tax on "food preparations", including packaged pizza toppings.

So companies would package up "pizza topping kits" in the USA, import them to Canada as "food preparations"... and then remove the cheese, which could be sold separately for far more than the cost of the complete kit.

After a couple years, the classification rules were amended to exclude anything containing cheese from the "food preparations" tariff class.

Re: Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert

#54
post #46

This is a simple duty arbitrage play. For anyone wondering what he actually did wrong, there are a few key points to note. Aluminum (and all materials, really) is exported and imported and duties are paid on the basis of the HS code and (if there is a trade agreement to be taken advantage of) certificates of origin (COO) along with the usual shipping docs. China is inclined to tax exports of primary aluminum because…

I'm missing the part of this scheme where you need to have a large cache of aluminum in any form to make this work. Related: The Chinese regulations on export of neodymium magnets is similarly structured. Exporting the magnets or the raw metallic ingredients is subject to high tariffs, but export of finished products using them is not. This isn't just about energy exports though, it's straight up protectionism of the…

Well,

If the aluminum they're getting is worth more than they're paying for it, they want to buy and export as much as possible. They then store it until they can sell it at the appropriate price. Especially considering that you'd assume the loophole is going to close sooner or later.

Re: Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert

#55
post #46

This is a simple duty arbitrage play. For anyone wondering what he actually did wrong, there are a few key points to note. Aluminum (and all materials, really) is exported and imported and duties are paid on the basis of the HS code and (if there is a trade agreement to be taken advantage of) certificates of origin (COO) along with the usual shipping docs. China is inclined to tax exports of primary aluminum because…

A similar, and perhaps more amusing, situation happened in Canada a few years ago. We have a 245.5% import tariff on cheese (why? Because dairy farmers are more important than poor people, apparently) but there was a much lower tax on "food preparations", including packaged pizza toppings. So companies would package up "pizza topping kits" in the USA, import them to Canada as "food preparations"... and then remove th…

I loathe farmer subsidies. I have no idea why our government gives farmers so much money and so many advantages - nobody in our society really benefits from those incredible spendings and it's a significant fraction of our state budget.

Re: Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert

#56
post #46

This is a simple duty arbitrage play. For anyone wondering what he actually did wrong, there are a few key points to note. Aluminum (and all materials, really) is exported and imported and duties are paid on the basis of the HS code and (if there is a trade agreement to be taken advantage of) certificates of origin (COO) along with the usual shipping docs. China is inclined to tax exports of primary aluminum because…

I'm missing the part of this scheme where you need to have a large cache of aluminum in any form to make this work. Related: The Chinese regulations on export of neodymium magnets is similarly structured. Exporting the magnets or the raw metallic ingredients is subject to high tariffs, but export of finished products using them is not. This isn't just about energy exports though, it's straight up protectionism of the…

a guess: in case China closes the loophole.

Re: Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert

#57
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A similar, and perhaps more amusing, situation happened in Canada a few years ago. We have a 245.5% import tariff on cheese (why? Because dairy farmers are more important than poor people, apparently) but there was a much lower tax on "food preparations", including packaged pizza toppings. So companies would package up "pizza topping kits" in the USA, import them to Canada as "food preparations"... and then remove th…

I loathe farmer subsidies. I have no idea why our government gives farmers so much money and so many advantages - nobody in our society really benefits from those incredible spendings and it's a significant fraction of our state budget.

Some (likely outdated) idea to do with treating farming capacity as a strategic reserve.

Re: Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert

#58
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not clear he's done anything wrong. Shipping Aluminum to Mexico? What's the problem.

The simple version: If a foreign government is unfairly subsidizing an industry, America will slap a tariff on it. This is good policy - imagine, for example, if Airbus could afford to sell their planes for $1, because they are being entirely subsidized by the French government. Everyone buys airbus, no one buys Boeing any more. Boeing(along with tens of thousands of jobs) goes bye bye, and now Airbus starts selling…

Wait, what about the part where everyone buys cheap Airbus planes and hedges them for when the price goes up? At some point, Airbus has to sell them for a profit, and it's at that point that people start selling their stockpiles of cheaply-bought Airbus planes. They could sell it for anywhere between $1 and whatever the price Airbus will eventually want to charge, and still make a profit, while simultaneously taking away all profit from Airbus.

And in the above scenario, Boeing is also someone that could buy those cheap Airbus planes. I know, it's a contrived scenario, but I think it illustrates the point.

In the case of aluminium being subsidized by the Chinese government, same thing. The entire world, including America, get's to benefit from cheap Aluminium. You could argue it's a relatively direct subsidy by the Chinese government to all Aluminium consumers. The Chinese government, and their subsidized aluminium producers will not be getting that money back. And really, all they're essentially buying is a temporary halt on competition. As soon as they monopolize the market, and attempt to abuse it, competitors will start appearing and they're back to square one. With a large capital deficit and negligible profits from the exercise.

Alternatively, you get protectionism via tariffs. One could argue that that is a form of punishment on all the consumers of the tariff-ed good, or consumers of goods that are made from the tariff-ed material. The consumers pay more, and the government get's extra tax revenue. Does it buffer, and protect local industries from turbulent and cheap foreign markets? Sure, but that's at the cost of the consumers again. Really, the only winner is the state's coffer.

Re: Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert

#59
post #57
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I loathe farmer subsidies. I have no idea why our government gives farmers so much money and so many advantages - nobody in our society really benefits from those incredible spendings and it's a significant fraction of our state budget.

Some (likely outdated) idea to do with treating farming capacity as a strategic reserve.

There's some rogue political wing in Japan that wants to have 100% capacity for domestic food production to meet domestic consumption needs. They've been pushing for subsidies for years to achieve "food independence", whatever that means.

I imagine their true goal is to just pad their pockets.

Re: Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert

#60
post #57
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I loathe farmer subsidies. I have no idea why our government gives farmers so much money and so many advantages - nobody in our society really benefits from those incredible spendings and it's a significant fraction of our state budget.

Some (likely outdated) idea to do with treating farming capacity as a strategic reserve.

Why would it be outdated?
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