China's only established brand name is Tsingtao beer, whose main brewery is a short distance from Haier headquarters in Qingdao on China's northeastern coast. American labor unions oppose permanent normal trade relations for China, which would end annual reviews of U.S.-Chinese trade relations. They say that would eliminate a tool to improve human rights and warn that a flood of Chinese imports could cost American jobs. The U.S. House is scheduled to begin a heated debate on the question Monday and is expected to vote on it later in the week. An immediate increase in Chinese imports appears unlikely.
China already gets the same tariff treatment given most U.S. trading partners.
Nike shoes, Fisher-Price toys, Kathie Lee handbags and Ralph Lauren clothing. The picture will be complicated by the ambitions of Chinese companies to shed their role as cheap, anonymous exporters and expand to the world stage. Haier's new South Carolina factory puts a Chinese company in the unusual position of creating American manufacturing jobs at a time when U.S. companies are adding to their own country's trade deficit by shifting production to China and other low-wage countries. But with plenty of cheap labor at home, Chinese companies are unlikely to hire enough Americans to make up for manufacturing jobs lost to China and other cheaper producers. Membership in the WTO could help aggressive firms like Haier, though more inefficient farms and state factories will suffer.