Fact check: U.S.-China trade package mostly about symbolism
"Trump’s Trade Pullout Roils Rural America"
Joe McDonald and Calvin Woodward, The Associated Press Published 8:33 a.m. ET Nov. 10, 2017
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General Motors' $2.2 billion piece of the package, for example, consists mostly of selling parts to its existing joint venture with the Chinese government.
Alaska, however, welcomed an agreement that could spur construction of a long-sought pipeline to ship natural gas from the North Slope to a port for export to Asia. Oil companies backed away from the project, but the agreement with Chinese interests means all parties will work toward a decision by the end of next year whether to proceed.
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The flurry of initiatives signed this week provides for the Chinese purchase of 300 Boeing jetliners that have a list price of $37 billion, mobile phone chipsets from Qualcomm for $12 billion, $1.6 billion in soybeans, and nearly $12 billion in vehicles and parts from General Motors and Ford, among other deals.
The Boeing deal is known to be a mix of old and new orders and appears to fit in the normal order of business. As well, airlines get deep discounts from the list price.
Boeing generally delivers about 150 planes to China a year (126 so far this year) and China generally orders about 300 more every two years. Company officials wouldn't comment beyond their statement on the deal.
Analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, an aviation-research firm in Fairfax, Virginia, said the Chinese government likes to bundle orders collected from Chinese airlines "to make it look like it plays a bigger role in the economy than it really does." Based on that practice, he said, the new Boeing orders must be "either orders in the pipeline or orders that haven't been placed but were going to be placed anyway."
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On autos, GM said its part of the package is a new but a normal element of its business in China and not something that popped up because the leaders are meeting. In addition to parts sales to the China-based joint venture, GM-SAIC, it provides for the sale of a small number of cars, such as Chevy Corvettes.
So what did the 'best deal-maker ever' Trump get for American workers from his China visit, more than any other president would have gained? Likely, if anything, very little. What did Trump get for Trump? A free visit to China.
It's a modern dilemma — a customer wants to fix a broken smartphone, tablet or laptop, only to be told by the manufacturer they will have to pay top dollar at an "authorised repair centre" or fork out for a replacement.
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