'The tsunami is coming': China's global exports are just getting started

A staggering $1.9 trillion in extra industrial lending is fuelling a continued flood of exports that could be spread even wider across the world by the Trump tariffs, writes

- Keith Bradsher

For decades, the world's largest car factory was Volkswagen's complex in Wolfsburg, Germany. But BYD, the Chinese electric carmaker, is building two factories in China, each capable of producing twice as many cars as Wolfsburg.

Recent data from China's central bank shows that state-controlled banks lent an extra $1.9 trillion to industrial borrowers over the past four years. On the fringes of cities all over China, new factories are being built day and night, and existing factories are being upgraded with robots and automation.

China's investments and advances in manufacturing are producing a wave of exports that threatens to cause factory closings and layoffs not just in the United States but also around the globe.

"The tsunami is coming for everyone," said Katherine Tai, who was the United States Trade Representative for former President Joe Biden.

President Trump's steep tariffs announced on April 2, which have caused stocks in Asia and elsewhere to plunge, were the most drastic response yet to China's export push. From Brazil and Indonesia to Thailand and the European Union, many countries have already moved more quietly to increase tariffs as well.

Chinese leaders are furious at the recent proliferation of trade barriers, and particularly Trump's latest tariffs. They take pride in China's high savings rate, long work hours and abundance of engineers and software programmers, as well as its legions of electricians, welders, mechanics, construction workers and other skilled tradesmen.

On state television on April 5, an anchor solemnly read a government statement condemning the United States: "It is using tariffs to subvert the existing international economic and trade order" so as "to serve the hegemonic interests of the United States."