Managing The Dragon

The June 29 truce in the trade war between the United States and China lasted just over one month. Thirty-three days after the presidents of the two countries met in Osaka, Japan and agreed to resume negotiations, President Trump, frustrated by the slow progress of negotiations, announced that the United States would impose a 10 […]

Vehicle sales in China slumped for the 12th consecutive month in June, with unit sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles declining by 9.6 percent in the month, and 12.4 percent for the first six months of the year. With the exception of electric vehicles (“EVs”), which increased by 80 percent in June and 49.6 percent year to date, all other categories of cars, trucks, and buses registered declines. The continuing, unprecedented — and double-digit — drop in auto sales has industry observers stumped, begging the question: When will it end?

In 2018, JFP Holdings initiated a new line of business — sourcing automotive components from China for sale to the U.S. auto aftermarket and sourcing high quality commercial electric vehicles (“EVs”) from leading Chinese EV manufacturers for sale to American fleet owners. Over the past 20 years, China has become the largest automobile market in […]

Several years ago, Tsinghua University asked me to speak to a group of Citibank execs about negotiating in China. In preparation for that class, I came up with my 10 Rules for Success. The class went over so well that I had the 10 Rules printed on plastic cards, which I now routinely hand out […]

The Trump Administration’s tariff strategy begs the question as to who actually pays for these duties. Does the American consumer pay through higher prices and efficiency losses caused by disruptions in the global supply chain as Liberty Street Economics argues in a recent article?

Despite the trade war, JFP Holdings is building a substantial business working with ADOMANI, Inc., a California company, to source electric drive trains, neighborhood electric vehicles, trucks, delivery and passenger vans, and buses from Chinese manufacturers for sale to fleet owners in the United States. China is, by far, the global leader in the manufacture […]

In the five predictions we made for 2019 at the beginning of the year, our first and most important was that the trade war between the United States and China would be successfully resolved by June 30. U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet at the G20 Summit in […]

China’s vehicle sales declined for the 10th month in a row in March and fell by double digits during the first three months of the year. Despite this gloomy performance, however, encouraging signs are providing hope that the worst may be over for China autos. After slowing throughout 2018, China’s economy has responded to recent […]

For the first time in memory, China’s unit vehicle sales declined in 2018, registering a 2.8 percent year over year decline.

If you have not already done so, I would encourage you to sign up for our new podcast series, Managing the Dragon: Demystifying China on iTunes or Spotify. As discussed below, we have been adding new podcasts covering topical issues in the country that you will not want to miss.