U.S. and Chinese consumers wary of buying each other’s products
May 26, 2020 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
The coronavirus pandemic is fueling mistrust among consumers in China and the United States about each country’s products, as the momentum for a decoupling between the two world’s largest economies intensifies. A recent survey by Deutsche Bank’s big data platform dbDIG showed 41% of Americans would not buy a “Made in China” product again and 35% of Chinese would avoid buying products “Made in USA”. Even though most consumers were not ready to completely shun each other’s goods, the survey results indicate a rise in commercial nationalism and a growing distaste for globalization, said Apjit Walia, Analyst at Deutsche Bank. U.S. consumer distrust of Chinese products has been boosted by comments from American officials, particularly President Donald Trump, who has blamed China for the pandemic and raised doubts about Beijing’s trustworthiness.
“Tempers and emotions are running high in both populations and the politicians know this very well, making the matter more complicated as it is an election year in the U.S.,” Walia said. In a separate U.S. consumer survey, conducted by Washington-based business advisory FTI Consulting, 78% of respondents said they would be willing to pay more for a product if the company had moved manufacturing out of China. Of those Americans surveyed, 55% said they did not think China could be trusted to follow through on its commitments to purchase U.S. goods in the phase one trade deal signed in January.
Concerns have also been raised about over-reliance on China, especially for production of vital supplies of medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and technology. Businesses are facing pressure from shareholders, regulators and governments to localize supply chains and make them more resilient to future shocks, analysts said. “China has risen in an eye-watering fashion so that has provoked anxiety in Western nations seeing their own countries’ prominence in the world economy being degraded as a result of this,” said Marie Owens Thomsen, global head of investment intelligence at Indosuez Wealth Management.
Sulmaan Khan, Professor of international history and Chinese foreign relations at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, said that China’s assertive diplomacy to protect national security has added to distrust in its businesses. “Nationalism is deeply dangerous because you can’t tell people when to stop once you have started these thoughts in their heads,” Khan added, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
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