France, Kelan Machine Tool Company.

Chairman Sorat met Cabinet official Carmaine in his office, and accompanied the company's sales director Domico.

"Mr. Carmine, we haven't seen each other for some days. Why did you have time to come to me?" Sorat asked with a smile.

"My old friend, you should know that I have always been arranged to do all kinds of unpleasant things. So, this time I come to you, I'm afraid I'll cause you trouble. I hope you don't blame me." Carmain gave Sorat a vaccination with a bitter face.

Sorat's smile remained unabated, and he said, "Carmain, don't say such sad words. I know that no matter what you do, you are always on orders. What you do is just your duty. How could I blame you? I'm just curious, what is the cabinet trying to do again this time?"

"I think you should have heard of it, it was the last G7 meeting." Carmine said obscurely.

"You mean, our government has decided to follow the Americans' arrangements and attack China?" Sorat asked.

"This may be for the benefit of Europe." Carmain argued, but his words sounded a little lack of confidence, and it was obvious that he didn't believe this kind of argument.

The G7 meeting was held last month. There were many reports on the meeting in the media. Sorat had some connections in the government, so he also learned some inside information that was inconvenient to be disclosed in the media.

This time, the G7 meeting was basically the United States singing a one-man show, and other countries were summoned by the United States, or, according to some extreme critics, they were trapped in by the United States.

The United States only talked about one issue at the meeting, which is how to curb China's development.

The U.S. commander started a trade war against China at the beginning of his arrival. He significantly increased tariffs on imported goods from China, carried out anti-dumping investigations on some Chinese goods, and used administrative means to force American-funded enterprises in China to move out of China.

These methods also often appeared in previous international trade. But it is unusual for a big country like the United States to use such a great force and use various means to attack another big country at the same time.

The commander was a businessman and had always been good at playing extreme pressure strategies. He believed that the containment measures against China carried out by his predecessors were too weak and failed to achieve the effect of one sword. He wanted to surpass his predecessors, to achieve his contributions in one battle, and to use a set of fierce combination punches to knock China back to its original form in one fell swoop.

The commander thinks this way. In the past few years, the international economic community has made a multi-faceted evaluation of China's economy. One of the conclusions has been drawn that the development of China's economy is entirely due to international trade. According to some bricks, China's dependence on foreign trade has reached more than 150%. In other words, if China's foreign trade is completely zero, the GDP growth rate will become negative and China will fall into a depression.

So, can the US strike bring China's foreign trade back to zero? The answer given by economists is yes.

These economists believe that China has no core competitiveness, lacks original spirit, and its industry is large but not strong, and is just a weak giant. Some scholars even use various data from the left-wing side to calculate and draw the conclusion that China's economy has actually collapsed.

If these economists were all Americans, the commander might still have some doubts about their views. The key is that a considerable number of scholars who believe that China's economy has collapsed are from China. These people are big experts in various universities and research institutes in China. In theory, they should have mastered the most core data of this country. From a standpoint, they should also tend to speak good things for China.

But even such a group of people also believe that China's economy is fragile, exaggerated, and collapses with one blow. How can the commander not believe it?

A blitzkrieg in international trade began like this. When the commander did not respond to China, he directly issued several laws and began to stifle the Chinese economy from all angles.

The thunder was loud and the raindrops were dense. When the trade war just started, China was indeed caught off guard. Many companies' export orders were suddenly cancelled, some international cooperation was suddenly interrupted, and many foreign-funded enterprises in China were ready to move and planned to move abroad.

The public opinion field was even more lively, with a large number of experts and scholars saying, predicting that "this year will be the most difficult year." As a result, netizens revealed that they have issued the same prophecy every year in the past decade. Some public accounts gathered sporadic cases from all over the country, claiming that China has already experienced a "foreign capital escape wave", "bankruptcy wave" and "unemployment wave", which scared many psychologically fragile flowers and plants.

After a hustle and bustle, people began to come back to their senses. The trade war is indeed fighting, but the lives of the people still have to continue. To live, they cannot live without pots, pans, socks and shirts. China is the world's factory, and half of the goods in the world are produced in China. No matter how many laws issued by the commander, can it replace a production base with 200 million industrial workers?

The American wholesalers who first canceled orders for Chinese suppliers came back with a slight look on their faces. The original products had to be added a few more percent in quantity, because the Christmas holiday was coming soon, and no one knew what kind of demon moths the commander would make next. While it could still be imported, there was not enough stock to prepare?

The commander raised import tariffs, and these additional tariffs always need to be borne by someone. According to the idea of ​​American wholesalers, these tariffs should of course be borne by Chinese suppliers. The method to bear them is to reduce the ex-factory price.

"Otherwise, we can only consider purchasing from other places."

This is a threat from American wholesalers.

"Sorry, our past price was already cost price, and it was impossible to reduce the price. As for purchasing from other places, yes, that's all, it's all right."

The Chinese suppliers have a gentle attitude and a firm stance.

"Or, we both will bear half of it."

American wholesalers took a step back.

There is no way, Chinese products are cheap and reliable in quality, and have long been recognized by American consumers. If you purchase a batch of goods from Southeast Asia, even if the prices are cheaper, consumers will not accept them. What's more, American consumers are used to being big-handed and buy everything they buy in boxes and land. With more than 300 million people's demand, which country can supply them besides China?

"It is impossible to reduce prices. Due to years of cooperation, this time the products should be based on the old prices. However, for the next batch of products, we will increase the price by 10%..."

The Chinese supplier replied.

"Why do you need to raise prices?"

“Because the trade war initiated by your country has increased our production costs.”

"But, in this way, we have no profit at all."

"You can also raise prices. Just let American consumers bear the tariff money. By the way, these tariffs were collected by the US government anyway, so you can just think that the American people are sharing their worries for the country..."

As a result, trade recovered, and the scale even increased by one or two percent compared with the previous one. American wholesalers wanted to stock up, and American consumers were also worried that commodity prices would rise further in the future, so they also increased their purchases.

Unlike the situation described by the bricks, Chinese goods are not without competitiveness. Even if additional import tariffs are added, they will not affect the favor of American consumers. However, when Americans buy these goods, they will have to pay a considerable amount of money to the commander.

The large-scale return of manufacturing to the United States did not appear. Although the commander participated in the foundation laying ceremony for several companies to build factories in the United States in a high-profile manner, this was only symbolic. The number of companies returning to the United States was very small, far less than the number of companies that leaked out of the United States during the same period. Moreover, many companies that claimed to return to the United States had no other news after the press conference. Their statements were actually just to give the commander a face. As for the actual return to the United States to produce, then hehe, does the United States still have a soil for manufacturing to survive?

Faced with the bankruptcy of the trade war, the commander became anxious. According to legend, he took several boxes of beef yellow detox pills alone, contributing hundreds of dollars to the US-China trade deficit.

After listening to reports from multiple departments, the commander began to realize that the economists he had seen before were unreliable, and that China was not as vulnerable as the Bricks described. On the contrary, the United States has declined much more than in the past. The combination of punches he used was very dazzling, but he had no internal force to support him, and it was just a few scheming.

The G7 Conference was held in this context. The plenipotentiary representative sent by the Grand Commander conveyed the General Leader’s instructions at the meeting: The G7 must work together and act together to achieve a comprehensive containment of China.

"In other words, just the United States is no longer able to contain China?"

Sorat asked Carmine a sharp question.

"Old friend, this is a well-known thing, so why do you need to say it clearly?" Carmine said.

"But, what are the benefits of this incident to our Europe?" Sorat asked, "The American commander wants to contain China because China's development threatens the hegemony of the United States. For Europe, it is a good thing for someone to challenge the United States' status, which will give Europe more room for maneuver in international affairs.

"Working between the United States and China, Europe can benefit from the central government, and both sides must please us. And if we help the United States defeat China, then the United States will still surpass Europe in the future, forcing us to accept all kinds of unreasonable political and economic arrangements.
Chapter completed!