Is China our friend? President Trump seems to have thought so at one time, but not now.

Trump tweeted this last Friday, “My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?” Why did the President do this? Because “China announced that it will impose 5%-10% tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. goods and reinstate duties on American autos. The tariffs will come in two batches, on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15, which are the same days that Trump’s newest round of tariffs on Chinese goods will go into effect.”

While many things are manufactured in China for US companies, the Chinese steal our secrets and run a non-authorized factory shift to make the product that they have been contracted to make. So they themselves can sell those illegally made products under a local company name. How unethical can they get!

The official Trump administration outlook on China is, “They are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence.”

And yet for decades now, we fools have rushed to China to have them manufacture our consumer products. I have been saying for years that they should not be trusted and that the true manufacturing costs are higher than the pencil pushers ever realized. The pencil pushers, if you did not know, are the accountants and business majors who tend to only look at the bottom line. Never mind about business ethics and the fact that the very same product made for their firm is being also made for a Chinese company too.

It is high time to pull out of China and start making more products here at home and elsewhere. We must do this before China puts us in a bind that we can not get out of.

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike