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Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

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Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#311
post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I don't know if China is fucked, but this reminded me of a map going around showing who in Latin America is trading more with: US or China [1]. In 2000, for everyone, it was the US. By 2023, for most it was China. And one of the only hold-outs in South America is Colombia - a country Trump has already had a fight with. And with Trump's erratic tariff policies, I would imagine this trend would continue or accelerate.…

all of latin America added up is only around 10% of US's consumer market size

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#312
post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The idea that China is a major security threat is basically brand new. And as far as I can see, that idea comes from China simply having grown its economy to a size comparable to that of the USA, nothing else? But everyone during the Chinese miracle growth (from 1980's to today) expected China would've become the largest economy in the world by the 2020's. I guess people just didn't really take that seriously until…

They expected China to grow in a way that would lead to the "west" exerting much more control over China than they ended up with today. Basically they wanted more western-style capitalism, reduction of state control, etc... Now China is very strong, and the west exerts very little influence

China is weak, its current economic engines of real estate and internal consumption has failed. It is currently heavily dependent on export, of which, sanctions and tariffs on China would wreck their economy.

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Remember how Apple couldn't just pick up and move the production of iPhones to India or Vietnam? You left out the part about dormitories full of modern-day slaves, complete with nets so they don't leap to their deaths. Generally this is frowned upon in the West. India and Vietnam wouldn't tolerate it either, despite being developing countries. Wasn't there a riot at Apple's India factory over work conditions or am…

There are nets on bridges and other places in the US, too. Also I don't think the suicide rate of those workers you are referring to is higher than the general population. There are simply lots of workers. For example, Foxconn has more than 1 million employees so it is normal that there would be some level of suicide within such a large population.

We have millions of people here, suicide rates are not that high, and no nets. So what is your argument exactly?

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#315
post #120

This is going to utterly fuck so many R&D projects at my company. We actually do large-scale manufacturing of industrial valves in the USA. But a lot of our prototyping involves working with Chinese suppliers and getting small batches of samples / prototypes / revisions sent in packages on airplanes. I literally do not know how the electrical and firmware engineers will do their jobs now if we cannot receive packages…

>I literally do not know how the electrical and firmware engineers will do their jobs now if we cannot receive packages from China As a software engineer who works closely with electrical and firmware engineers I know what you are saying is completely true. The question is how did we let it go this far? Why has there never been serious Western alternatives to JLCPCB, PCBWay, JLCCNC etc.? Has anyone asked themselves h…

There are US PCB makers who do prototypes. Sierra Circuits [1] is in Sunnyvale, CA. Pentalogix is near Portland, OR.[2] But 5 small boards will cost about US$75 each.

[1] https://www.protoexpress.com

[2] https://www.pentalogix.com/

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The question is how did we let it go this far? Why has there never been serious Western alternatives to JLCPCB, PCBWay, JLCCNC etc.? Has anyone asked themselves how these Chinese firms are so cheap? It’s not really a secret. They have cheap labor. Very lax environmental standards (big deal for PCB manufacturing). They have a high density of manufacturing and production. One factory can get their materials and machi…

Most US-based PCB manufacturers can do low-volume PCBs rather cheaply for you, but not quite at China prices. AdvancedPCB in the US has their "$33 each" which gets you a very quick turnaround on a pretty-good-tech 2-layer board for $100 total (minimum 3 boards). They do 4-layer PCBs for $66/board and they apparently also do RF materials for $100/board. Sierra Circuits, for example, also has similar prices. This is a…

That's not bad. Sierra and Protologix are much more expensive.

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#317
post #264
post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/u-s-postal-service-places-... > The Trump administration this week imposed a 10% tariff on all goods from China and banned all low-value, e-commerce parcels from receiving duty-free benefits under the de minimis entry program. The administration said the emergency order is part of its strategy to stop the illegal shipment of fentanyl and precursor chemicals into the United States."

> The administration said the emergency order is part of its strategy to stop the illegal shipment of fentanyl and precursor chemicals into the United States." Lol said out of their mouth while he was pardoning the head of the Silk Road underground/darkweb drug distribution organization to pump his crypto.

The illegal Fentanyl precursor industry didn't donate enough to his PAC. /s

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#318

Any idea why?? Presumably the tariff/trade debate?

The most likely reason is because shipments below a certain value were not being inspected and this was a loophole that allowed China to undermine the US by shipping fentanyl ingredients. My guess is that the postal service needs time to resolve this issue, and are choosing to stop processing these packages for now.

The other possible reasons are to impose tariffs on shipments below the low value threshold, to disrupt the Chinese economy which is currently weak, to discourage consumption of Chinese products, or to use as a negotiation tool in the current push to reset foreign policies.

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. Capitalism's fundamental is RoI, and in China the time scale is "forever" while in the venture capital market it's 5 years max.

Chinese government only thinks in terms of months, not forever. Why do you think they overbuilt housing and crashed the economy? It's because the government officials want to quickly cash out and escape to other countries.

Building out more high-speed rail interconnections than any other part in the world is a well-known sign of a country that thinks short-term.

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. I guess it’s a matter of degree but my memory of the 90s, 00s and even early 2010s the middle east and North Korea both received far more attention from the press and politicians than China. China seemed to be on a trajectory towards a free market and less repressive government. I don’t feel like the current “cold war” esque situation set in until the late 2010s but maybe I’m wrong? What’s your take?

You are so very wrong. Just one example around free market: China's private sector has lost ground as state sector has gained share among top corporations since 2021 https://www.piie.com/research/piie-charts/2024/chinas-privat...

2021 is not recent for you?
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