china tarriffs on lcd monitors manufacturer

Otherwise, without such Approval, even if the goods have arrived at the China Customs, they will not be cleared normally, and the goods will be detained in the port till get such approval, or even be returned, causing you huge losses.

Approximately 90 percent of all LCD modules are manufactured in mainland China. The remaining 10 percent are manufactured primarily between Japan and Taiwan, and some in Korea. China’s clear stronghold in manufacturing, coupled with its large volume of imports to the U.S., mean these tariffs will definitely impact the industry.

The US government said the tariffs where created in response to China’s Unfair Trade Practices. Specifically, the Section 301 investigation by the USTR revealed:

China uses joint venture requirements, foreign investment restrictions, and administrative review and licensing processes to require or pressure technology transfer from U.S. companies.

China directs and unfairly facilitates the systematic investment in, and acquisition of, U.S. companies and assets to generate large-scale technology transfer.

China conducts and supports cyber intrusions into U.S. commercial computer networks to gain unauthorized access to commercially valuable business information.

Unfortunately, while the USTR works to rectify inequities in these unfair practices, many American manufacturers will have to pay higher prices for their components. That works its way up the supply chain and can ultimately lead to higher prices for American consumers.

The USITC (Office of Tariff Affairs and Trade Agreements) is responsible for publishing the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTSA). The HTSA provides the applicable tariff rates and statistical categories for all merchandise imported into the United States; it is based on the international Harmonized System, the global system of nomenclature that is used to describe most world trade in goods. Although the USITC publishes and maintains the HTSA in its various forms, Customs and Border Protection is the only agency that can provide legally binding advice or rulings on classification of imports.

Many people are asking about using alternate HTC codes with lower burden implications. Unfortunately, these codes are abundant and complicated. There should be exactly one code that properly categorizes your product.

When a display is designed and built for a single application, it may be more appropriate to use a harmonized tariff code for the end-product instead of the display component. An LCD in a cellphone is a good example of this.

A popular way to do this is to reevaluate your current HTC codes and make sure they’re correct. This can be done with in-house council or the use of a consultant specializing in this area of the government. Ultimately, however, you need get a ruling from the government to be certain you are using the correct code.

Some companies are searching for key suppliers outside of the China region and working towards qualifications of those factories. Others are exploring having key components of the purchased assembly outsourced outside of China so it still satisfies the correct definition of Country of Origin. Again, violating these definitions can lead to costly fines and penalties.

China on Tuesday announced that it would remove tariffs on raw material and other products that cannot be produced domestically but are needed by next-generation monitor manufactures, in a move, analysts say, aimed at further bolstering China"s semiconductor supply chain.

From January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2030, producers of thin film transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT LCD), active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display devices and micro-LEDs will be exempted from import taxes for raw materials and consumables that cannot be produced domestically, or in cases where domestic supply falls short of demand, according to an official notice.

Enterprises that import new equipment during the period will be able to pay value-added tax on their imports in installments within six years after the first items were imported, with no overdue payment fees, said the notice released by China"s Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and the State Administration of Taxation.

It is timely for China to issue policies to support the next-generation display industry, which plays a very important part in building the semiconductor industry chain, Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"It shows that China encourages imported materials and equipment to enter the market to step up the nation"s self-sufficiency in a bid to establish China"s own semiconductor industry chain and prevent key technology from being strangled by the US," Xiang said.

TFT LCDs, AMOLED display devices and micro-LEDs are used in an increasing range of applications, giving products better visual presentation, contrast, response times, and energy efficiency. For instance, micro-LEDs are especially suitable for making smart watches and augmented reality displays.

"Next-generation monitors have a great market opportunity, since they can be used in various intelligent terminals. In the past five years, more and more enterprises have made such displays," Xiang added.

Imported raw materials account for over 60 percent of display panels in the next-generation display industry at present, said Wang Dongsheng, marketing director of an LCD manufacturer in Central China"s Hubei Province.

"The favorable policies come as good news for the industry," he said. "They are expected to give a boost to the technological innovation of upstream manufacturers, enhance the competitiveness of export enterprises, and accelerate the application of new intelligent terminal display devices," Wang said.

There are broad applications for next-generation display devices driven by China"s consumption upgrading and the dual-circulation economic development paradigm with a greater focus on the domestic market.

All the information, data and documents are provided by ETCN only for your reference. ETCN promises to collect and edit them in due care but shall not be liable for their correction and accuracy. In case of any discrepancy, official versions and interpretations shall prevail.

Two days after Independence Day 2018, President Donald Trump’s aggressive new tariffs went into effect, imposing anextra 25% taxon imported Chinese goods. This affected over $50 billion worth of “industrially significant technologies” used by U.S. electronics manufacturers and their buyers.

Many industry groups held their tongues in hopes that the president would successfully force Beijing to play fairer with intellectual property rights and more. Until early May 2019, that seemed likely, as Trump repeatedly claimed a historic trade deal with China was imminent.

So, why are electronics makers suddenly looking at the possibility of tariffs on virtually everything? And where will the tariffs on electronics from China end up as we approach 2020?

In mid-June, 7 days of hearings were held before the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on the president"s proposal to expand tariffs to an additional $300 billion in imports from China. These are pretty much the only imports from China -- from any industry -- that remain tariff-free.

The USTR has gotten more than 1,000s of written comments on the plan, almost all of them condemning the tariff proposal. They say the additional measures would:

Trump"s recent threats toimpose tariffs on Mexican imports in a dispute over border security, coupled with fading prospects for a compromise in the China trade war, has resulted in increasingly loud opposition.

On September 1, 2019 tariffs were instituted on roughly $110 billion in Chinese imports. This change hit a variety of markets, including apparel, footwear, home textiles, and some technology products -- including the Apple Watch.

Tariffs of 25% imposed previously on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods are set to rise to 30%. That was initially going to happen Oct. 1, but in September the president announced a delay to Oct. 15.

So, what does this mean? All suppliers should be expected to pass through current and any new tariffs. In 2018 this meant raising costs of all components listed in the Section 301 tariff act, including:

Since many suppliers produce components in multiple countries, you may not know until shipping whether the “country of origin” for your components will be China. This means that when placing orders, ECM buyersdo not always know whether they’ll be subject to additional taxation.

Additionally, there are current talks of additional 15% tariffs being placed on about $160 billion in Chinese goods, mostly electronics including laptops and cellphones, in December of 2019.

The only way around the tariff is to ensure that goods were not reshipped into the U.S. from China via a third-party country. Most electronics contract manufacturers have provided OEMs with a surcharge, with the position that the tariffs were likely temporary. Others, however, have been charging at cost. Now, who knows how they"ll adjust charges?

A number of industry associations -- like the International Distribution of Electronics Association -- and individual businesses -- like Matric Group -- have made efforts to have component-level parts removed from the list. Still, the best thing to do in the meantime is to stay informed and know what to expect.

These are all consumer electronics tariffs. There have been rare exceptions made for general electronics, and we"ll wait to hear more about tariffs at the component level. The tariff increase"s scope has yet to be finalized, if angry U.S. CEOs have anything to say about it.

A 25% tariff on electronic components doesn"t mean a direct 25% increase in the final cost ofyour product.Some estimatesput the price hike in the 3% range for a typical low-to-mid-volume production, but that could increase if tariffs begin affecting active components like integrated circuits.

Even with the lack of consumer electronics on the currently enforced tariffs list (for now), higher prices in the supply chain have led in some cases to higher prices of finished goods for consumers.

Worried about the impact of tariffs on U.S. manufacturers? You may want help with component life cycle management? An electronics manufacturer that offers full aftermarket services can take that headache off your hands:

May 10thsees the US-China trade dispute escalating yet again as the US continues to hike tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese imports, going from 10% to 25%.TrendForcepoints out that TVs , monitors, notebooks and other display products were not among the US$250 billion worth of goods hit by the 25% tariffs, thus the current impact on panels and the display industry remains to be fairly limited.

Yet tensions amid the US-China trade war has intensified. China has swiftly responded in retaliation, imposing 5%-25% punitive tariffs of its own on US$60 billion worth of goods on May 13th, Taipei Time. Likewise, the US has released its 4thlist of tariffs, including US$325 billion worth of China exports among the items to suffer 25% tariffs. Notebooks, which make up a sizeable proportion of imports in revenue, are especially deserving of close attention.

The significance of notebook PCs lies in 3 areas, and one should note that not only are the US and China both harmed by the high tariffs, but Taiwan is also caught up in the storm. First of all, nearly 90% of notebook PCs imported to the US are assembled in China, with Chongqing as its main industrial city for these products. Lacking other production bases of similar scale with highly integrated supply chains for flexible procurement, China will suffer a terrible hit in exports should punitive tariffs begin to fly.

Secondly, the North American notebook PC market is highly reliant on domestic brands in the US. According to TrendForce"s global shipment statistics for notebook PC brands 2018, American brands HP, Dell and Apple"s market shares combined comprised up to 66% of the entire North American market. Looking at it from another angle, shipments for the North American market took up 40~50% of total shipments and formed the main source of business for each of the three giants. If tariffs are imposed on notebook PCs, American brands will begin to lose competitive power due to elevated costs from tariffs, impacting both business and profits. If the tariffs reflect themselves in the end prices for notebook PCs, then there will be good reason to worry whether the North American market, which comprises up to a third of global notebook PC shipments,will suffer from a stifled sales momentum. Should that come to pass, it shall be mayday for both American notebook PC brands and the global notebook market.

Lastly, Taiwan"s suppliers have long accumulated competitive power in and concentrated on notebook PC manufacturing. The three aforementioned American brands all depend 90% on Taiwan"s suppliers. If punitive tariffs become unavoidable, Quanta, Compal and Wistron may become another center of impact in this disaster . Some notebook PC ODMs have expanded their production capacities in Vietnam, Taiwan and other locations outside China since 2018 in an attempt to minimize the potential impacts from tariffs. Although the change in places of production may circumvent the tariffs, notebook PC supply chains have long been situated in China. Shipping the relevant upstream components to new plants overseas of China will incur additional fees and time costs, thus leading to an inevitable overall increase in cost despite the tariff work-around.

In TV markets, having TVs made in Mexico and shipped to America for sale have always been the business model for years under considerations of tariff-related incentives and logistic costs. Taking the current top four TV brands by market share for example, we see that Samsung and LG have enormous production capacities in Mexico, allowing the two Korean manufacturers to circumvent the towering tariffs on China imports with ease, thanks to the additional resources at hand.

In contrast, Chinese brand TCL, catapulted by sharp price strategies, and Vizio are still highly reliant on China manufacturers for production. Although TCL possesses some capacity in Mexico, it is only enough for 50% of US demand. That is to say, once TVs are included in the list of products to suffer punitive tariffs, a reshuffling of brands by brand strength and market shares shall ensue.

Aug. 15 – China may lift import duties on LCD panels in order to motivate domestic LCD panel manufacturers and attract more foreign direct investors to build production lines in the country, according to a report by Right Site Asia, an online Asian industrial information platform. The tariff rate may jump to 8 percent from the current 5 percent.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced fiscal and policy support for domestic panel production back in 2008 in a bet to reduce the country’s heavy reliance on LCD panel imports from Japan and Taiwan. If the government approves the tariff hike this time, a number of traditional LCD exporters to China will likely lose competitiveness in prices.

However, on the other hand, the tariff increase is expected to largely encourage those enterprises that already have their own production lines in China. Both China’s BOE Technology Group and China Star Optoelectronics Technology have put their fresh 8.5-Generation LCD panel plants into production recently, leading the whole industry to step into a new era where the country’s demand for LCD panels larger than 32 inches is no longer completely dependent on imports.

Bai Weimin, vice chairman of China Video Industry Association, recently expressed his confidence in the future of Chinese LCD panel companies after a major import order worth US$5.5 billion was struck between mainland color TV manufacturers and Taiwanese LCD panel producers. Bai said he believes such orders will be reduced in the future because Chinese enterprises will start to produce more panels by themselves.

It is also hoped that increasing levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) will be introduced to the industry. In fact, several Asian LCD panel giants are already moving. The South Korea-based Samsung Electronics’ 7.5G panel plant in Suzhou Industrial Park (SIL) – the company’s joint venture with the SIL and the Chinese consumer electronics maker TCL – has kicked off construction in May this year, and is expected to boast a monthly capacity of 100,000 glass substrates when it enters mass production in 2013. Another South Korean company, LG Display, also plans to begin construction on an 8.5G plant in Guangzhou at the end of August, while the Taiwan-based AUO is investing in a joint venture to build an 8.5G plant in Kunshan, which will be put into mass production in 2013.

Before China, the European Union has set up the example of using a tariff strategy to attract more FDI into the region’s panel industry. The region’s import duties on LCD panels – which used to be as high as 14 percent – worked effectively to make a large number of LCD monitor suppliers relocate their production lines to the East European countries, but it also incurred trade disputes. The EU had to agree to void LCD monitor tariffs earlier this year, following a trade complaint filed by Taiwan.

The merchandise under consideration is referred to as the “Advent LCDM40 LCD Rear Vision Mirror Monitor.” The LCDM40 is a combination of a TFT LCD color video monitor and motor vehicle rear view glass mirror. This merchandise is intended to replace the standard factory motor vehicle rear view mirror and, when combined with a compatible camera (not included), to provide the driver a broader view behind the vehicle for increased safety when traveling in reverse. The video monitor is activated when the vehicle is in reverse and gives the driver a 170 degree viewing angle.

The applicable subheading for the LCD Rear Vision Mirror Monitor will be 8528.59.2500, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for Monitors and projectors, not incorporating television reception apparatus; reception apparatus for television, whether or not incorporating radio-broadcast receivers or sound or video recording or reproducing apparatus: Other monitors: Other: Color: With a flat panel screen: Other: With a video display diagonal not exceeding 34.29 cm. The rate of duty will be Free.

Duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on World Wide Web at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.

A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist Lisa Cariello at (646) 733-3014.

Washington, DC -The United States Trade Representative (USTR) today announced the next steps in the process of imposing an additional tariff of 10 percent on approximately $300 billion of Chinese imports.

On May 17, 2019, USTR published a list of products imported from China that would be potentially subject to an additional 10 percent tariff.  This new tariff will go into effect on September 1 as announced by President Trump on August 1.

Certain products are being removed from the tariff list based on health, safety, national security and other factors and will not face additional tariffs of 10 percent.

Further, as part of USTR’s public comment and hearing process, it was determined that the tariff should be delayed to December 15 for certain articles.  Products in this group include, for example, cell phones, laptop computers, video game consoles, certain toys, computer monitors, and certain items of footwear and clothing.

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Innolux Corp (群創), the nation’s biggest LCD panelmaker, yesterday urged the government to step up efforts to eliminate import tariffs on local LCD products in upcoming trade talks with China to help local companies save businesses.

Innolux’s statement came as trade in goods talks between Taiwan and China are entering the final stages. The latest round of trade talks is set to take place in the middle of this month in Taipei to resolve disagreements over further trade liberalization and tariff reductions.

China resisted lowering tariffs on flat panels from Taiwan after its demands to open local the agricultural sector were rejected during talks last month.

“The government should tough its position and beef up its efforts in talks with China to bring down the import tariffs on Taiwanese panelmakers to zero,” Innolux president Wang Jyh-chau (王志超) said in a company statement released yesterday.

It is crucial for Taiwanese LCD panel manufacturers to stay afloat by safeguarding their key role in supplying flat panels to Chinese TV brands because Taiwan’s LCD industry is bracing for a severe downturn, Wang said.

“Without the government’s help, Taiwan’s flat panel supply chain will be replaced by South Korean rivals,” Wang said. “South Korean panelmakers are nibbling local companies’ market shares in China because they are free of tax burdens.”

South Korean firms LG Display Co and Samsung Electronics Co are not required to pay any tariffs because they started operating Chinese factories two years ago, while Taiwanese companies lack facilities in China, Wang said.

Currently, China levies tariffs of between 5 and 8 percent on LCD panels made by Taiwanese companies. Innolux and most of its local peers, including AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), ship a large proportion of their flat panels to China.

Furthermore, it “will not be sufficient for Taiwan to get the same terms with South Korea in trade talks with China,” if Taiwan wanted to secure its Chinese customers, Wang said.

The Beijing-Seoul free trade agreement will allow South Korean flat panelmakers to enjoy zero import tariffs on LCD panels shipped to China after the agreement enters the 10th year.

In China, and worldwide, Taiwanese companies primarily face competitors from LG Display and Samsung, rather than Chinese manufacturers, which still lag far behind Taiwanese companies in terms of technology and operation efficiency, according to IHS Technology.

Laptop manufacturers including Dell and HP Inc. are finalizing plans to move some of their laptop computer manufacturing out of China, Nikkei reports.

While the report is based on anonymous sources rather than formal company announcements it would not be a surprise to see preemptive plans being made. U.S. duties on Chinese laptop exports have yet to be applied, as outlined in Panjiva’s 3Q 2019 Outlook, but could rapidly be brought into place based on prior Trump administration practice.

China accounted for 91.4% of U.S. laptop computer imports by number in the 12 months to May 31, Panjiva data shows. While there was a 2.0% reduction in imports from China in 2018 compared to 2017, there’s been a 11.1% year over year surge in May – perhaps indicating a small pre-tariff stockpiling. There’s been an acceleration in exports from Vietnam, though they only represented 6.0% of shipments in the 12 months to May 31.

Looking at HP and Dell specifically they imported 100% and 88.7% of their U.S. seaborne imports of laptops from China in the 12 months to Jun. 30. Dell has already begun to replace imports from China – supplied by Wistron and Compal – with those from Taiwan (by Compal) since the start of 2019.

HP meanwhile, which is supplied by Quanta’s Tech Front subsidiary, has yet to do so. Indeed, HP Inc. has accelerated its shipments recently with a 14.2% year over year increase in the second quarter. That may reflect increased demand and / or inventory front-loading which is a common early-stage strategy for dealing with the risk of tariffs.

On Monday, June 6, President Biden announced a two-year suspension of the imposition of new tariffs on solar industry imports. Although not unprecedented, the move has drawn both praise and criticism from members of the industry; while this action will enable developers, at least for a two-year period, to source solar modules and cells from countries like China and in turn accelerate manufacturing, an ongoing US Department of Commerce investigation into these foreign supply chains may be stifled as a consequence.

The Presidential Determination was issued pursuant to Biden’s authority under Section 303(a)(5) of the Defense Production Act of 1950. While the Defense Production Act was primarily geared towards protecting and facilitating domestic production capability during wartime, the presidential authority has been used outside of these contexts as a matter of national security. In this instance, the Memorandum for the Secretary of Energy (issued concurrently with the Presidential Determination) stated that expansion of “domestic production capability for solar photovoltaic modules and module components is necessary to avert an industrial resource or critical technology item shortfall that would severely impair national defense capability.” The action extends to most solar photovoltaic modules and components, including ingots, wafers, solar glass, and cells. In effect, the two-year suspension of tariffs will assist the solar industry in securing supply, combating inflation, generating manufacturing capacity, and in turn, developing solar generation projects.

While the action supports President Biden’s goal of decarbonizing the power sector by 2035, it also conflicts with the president’s stance on trade relations with China, as he previously decided against rolling back existing Trump-era tariffs. Additionally, it runs counter to an ongoing probe conducted by the US Department of Commerce. Auxin Solar petitioned for the investigation after it alleged Chinese solar manufacturers skirted the existing tariffs by moving operations into Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia. Auxin Solar reacted negatively to the tariff suspension, calling it “extremely problematic” and that it has allowed “Chinese-funded special interests to defeat the fair application of US trade law.”

Although dumping and other hostile actions by foreign manufacturers may negatively impact the competiveness of US-based counterparts, major industry actors, such as the Solar Energy Industry Association, have pointed to the investigation as a major obstacle to renewable development.

Barclay Damon’s Regulatory Practice Area and Energy Team attorneys will continue to monitor the ongoing investigation for any updates in connection with solar tariffs and the two-year suspension.

If you have any questions regarding the content of this alert, please contact Brenda Colella, Regulatory Practice Group Leader, at bcolella@barclaydamon.com; or David Solimeno, associate, at dsolimeno@barclaydamon.com; or another member of the firm’s Regulatory Practice Area or Energy Team.

Washington, DC -The United States Trade Representative (USTR) today announced the next steps in the process of imposing an additional tariff of 10 percent on approximately $300 billion of Chinese imports.

On May 17, 2019, USTR published a list of products imported from China that would be potentially subject to an additional 10 percent tariff.  This new tariff will go into effect on September 1 as announced by President Trump on August 1.

Certain products are being removed from the tariff list based on health, safety, national security and other factors and will not face additional tariffs of 10 percent.

Further, as part of USTR’s public comment and hearing process, it was determined that the tariff should be delayed to December 15 for certain articles.  Products in this group include, for example, cell phones, laptop computers, video game consoles, certain toys, computer monitors, and certain items of footwear and clothing.

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RJM Music makes MIDI Foot Controllers that some of the world"s most famous bands have used, including Guns N" Roses, Metallica, Brad Paisely, Muse and Fall Out Boy.

The company, with three employees, builds its devices in San Diego County. Its main product utilizes 23 LCD screens, a type that co-owner Sheri Minelli says is only available from China.

"We"re not Apple," said Minelli, who owns the business with her husband Ron. "We don"t get to choose and make something that fits exactly. We have to take what"s in the marketplace."

On Aug. 22, the Minellis got a statement from the Department of Homeland Security billing them $1,642 in tariffs. That was 25 percent of their purchase for the LCD screens, which individually cost between $7 and $25.

In a series of Tweets last week, President Trump ordered U.S. businesses to see alternatives to China. He also announced plans to raise the current 25 percent rate to 30 percent for $250 billion of goods and products on Oct. 1.

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Please try again in a few minutes. If the issue persist, please contact the site owner for further assistance. Reference ID IP Address Date and Time 33f3178f1ce893a2b8ddb3682e262743 63.210.148.230 02/19/2023 05:16 PM UTC

According to President Donald Trump, his recent conversation with the chief executive of Foxconn Technology Group was meant to persuade the world"s biggest manufacturer of made-in-China consumer electronics to keep its promise to build a mega-manufacturing complex in Wisconsin.

"Great news on Foxconn in Wisconsin after my conversation with Terry Gou!" Trump tweeted after the Feb. 1 call, which came only days after it was reported Foxconn was wavering in its commitment to the state.

Speaking to thousands of Foxconn employees at a Chinese New Year carnival in Taiwan, with Asian news outlets in attendance, Gou made clear that he and Trump spoke at length about the far bigger stakes of the U.S.-China trade war — even telling the throngs that he received an assurance from Trump.

"U.S. President Trump shared with me yesterday on the phone that the negotiation progress between China and the U.S. is going well, and it is likely that they will come up with an agreement soon," Gou said, according to Nikkei Asian Review.

Gou"s candor supports a view among trade analysts that Foxconn"s promise to build a flat-screen manufacturing complex in Wisconsin amounts to a bargaining chip in an economic conflict waged between Washington and Beijing — a politically sensitive trade war with hundreds of thousands of American jobs at stake, far more than the 13,000 that Foxconn promised would be created in Racine County.

“If you think foreign investment is one of the moving pieces (in the trade talks), it absolutely is," said Mary Lovely, an economist who specializes in international trade and investment at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C.

The implied bargain is clear: Foxconn will keep alive its Wisconsin investment as long as Trump ensures Foxconn continues to have wide-open access to American consumers for its Chinese-made imports — and as long as Wisconsin taxpayers subsidize the project with the most expensive package of subsidies ever from a U.S. state to a foreign company.

Gou, 68, who founded Foxconn in 1974 and built a global empire of export markets, is known as a bare-knuckled negotiator. From a manufacturing base in mainland China, Foxconn supplies the world with iPhones for Apple and freighters full of other consumer electronics for the likes of Sony, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and brands known mainly in Asia. Gou has close ties to the Chinese Politburo.

As far back as 2017, when Trump unveiled Foxconn"s plans for Wisconsin, many analysts viewed the project as a hedge against the trade barriers Trump had threatened as a candidate.

As Trump rolled out his trade sanctions last year, triggering global trade wars in the process, "you’ll notice there have been no threatened tariffs on iPhones or other smartphones," observed Willy Shih, an economist at the Harvard Business School.

The Wisconsin facility was always driven by considerations other than pure business logic, analysts said. As Foxconn itself revealed last month, U.S. wages are too high to build TVs at a competitive price. No company ever attempted to build flat-screens outside Asia — much less in a part of the American Midwest better known for engine castings and Johnson Wax.

They"ve simmered throughout the 21st century as America"s seemingly insatiable appetite for affordable made-in-China goods has set records almost every year. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services with China represents the biggest trade imbalance between any two nations on the planet — with no signs of slowing down.

In 2017, the latest year available, the bilateral trade gap widened to $335.7 billion, a figure that has grown exponentially since the late 1990s, according to data from the U.S. Commerce Department. The groaning trade gap has become an unofficial index of America"s manufacturing competitiveness even as a torrent of Chinese imports guarantee low prices for consumers at Walmart and other retailers.

The nation"s export weakness is a chronic political headache in Washington. Populist politicians blame cheap Chinese labor and lax Chinese environmental practices for the legions of manufacturing jobs that have vanished in the United States.

But slipping competitiveness and erosion of manufacturing employment defy easy political fixes. American politicians often talk tough but the Chinese have leverage in trade talks that Washington lacks: China has become one of America"s biggest lenders, effectively one of its biggest bankers.

America"s debtor status stems from its chronic trade imbalance. Americans import more than they export and consume more than they produce, just like a household that lives beyond its means. That’s shriveled the national savings rate. Americans routinely live with so much debt, in fact, that their unsustainable borrowing to buy homes was a major trigger for the searing financial crisis of 2008-’10.

All the while, the federal government mirrors the debt-dependent society that elected it:  Washington chronically spends more (on roads, schools, subsidies and national security) than it ever manages to collect in taxes from a debt-dependent electorate.  With debt spread across all levels of society, Americans collectively borrow from foreign lenders such as China to pay for the goods and services they otherwise couldn"t afford.

But the scope and abruptness of Trump"s trade barriers are unprecedented in the global age. He singled out China but didn"t stop there: The White House has imposed multiple rounds of tariffs, targeting all the world"s biggest trading blocs and economies, including all of North America; the 28-nation European Union; Japan, Russia and India.

China, the E.U., Canada, Mexico, India, Turkey and Russia retaliated with trade barriers of their own, all squarely aimed at the U.S. The world looked on last year as one market after another began to shut out imports. Trade slowed and global economic uncertainty grew. American manufacturers from Harley-Davidson to General Motors cried out in protest, blaming the trade war for killing American jobs.

Trump hasn"t backed down from his get-tough trade stance. "Nothing has been taken off the table," said Erica York, a trade analyst at the Tax Foundation, a conservative fiscal watchdog in Washington, D.C.

Because it does most of its manufacturing on the Chinese mainland, both Beijing and now Washington are pressuring Foxconn to create jobs — or at least to not slash existing ones. The pressure on Foxconn is real. Apple, Foxconn"s biggest customer, has been reporting a decline in demand for iPhones. Economic growth has slowed in China.

Just as worrisome, particularly for Wisconsin, is that new manufacturing facilities for flat-screen liquid-crystal display panels have proliferated in China and much of Asia, said Shih at Harvard. In southern China, Foxconn already is building a twin of the proposed Wisconsin plant, with identical or even greater research and production capacity. "There’s excess capacity that"s building," he said.

"The situation is darkening," said Levy. Early last year, Trump"s trade stance looked like rhetoric — "a lot of barking that would go away," he said. "Very quickly, Trump got himself into a position where this could be painful."

According to the Tax Foundation, about 167,000 U.S. jobs will vanish under the existing raft of Trump administration trade restrictions, York said. That number would more than double if new tariffs, currently threatened, are enacted, the foundation said.

Gou has been candid about the trade conflict. Speaking in December at a Chinese economic conference, Gou warned that the U.S.-China trade war may drag on for a decade. The once-regulated world of trade would shift "from globalization toward polarization," the CEO said.

With Asian journalists on hand Feb. 2, Gou described the U.S.-China trade conflict as a "major concern." The Foxconn chairman even disclosed to his workers that he flew to Washington in December for "an extensive discussion with the president about the outlook on the trade situation between the U.S. and China."

U.S.-China trade talks formally resume in March. They"ll be bogged down by complex issues involving cyber-security and the alleged Chinese theft of intellectual property from the U.S., as well as market access issues. "If no deal is reached," said York at the Tax Foundation, "all indications are that the U.S. would increase tariffs and that China would do the same."

Amid the welter of U.S.-led trade barriers, tariffs, duties and quotas, Shih at Harvard called the bilateral talks a "big three-dimensional chess game."