I have lived and worked in China 22 years. I have married a Chinese village girl -now my loving wife of 15 years- and we are raising a family (two children, one 9 yrs old and another on its way), bought an apartment, paid lots of taxes and have contributed to our community. In effect, we have a life. Now the apple tree has been shaken, and the well-laid plan of the CCP is threatened by this new sheriff in town. My conclusion is to downsize and redefine what I do -landscape architecture-. This should be easy enough for me but wildly unconscionable for my Chinese clients whom have enjoyed the gravy train for at least a generation and assume it is just the way it is. I am certain, in many other leisure oriented industries, the belt-tightening is also going on. My advise? Batten down the hatches and tighten the jib, redefine your personal boundaries and remember, life (any life) is all grace and to think you might be outside the mercy of the forces that be, is a delusion.
sincerely,
B.
In China, Trump's Plan is Working
Politics and politicians tend to really mess up ordinary people's lives so
I have nothing but contempt for most of them, but a few are nothing short of vomit inspiring scumbags.
I have deliberately left this post politically neutral as the forum's rules are quite specific regarding party politics.
Mr Trump tends to bring out strong feelings either way so perhaps we could avoid partisan politics, sticking to the topic of how a politician is altering the lives and plans of expats, but without comment on the gentleman himself 
Fred,
I was quite neutral (consciously so) in my wording. The use of your term "scumbag", implies you are anything but neutral. Be that as it may, I for one support efforts motivated by principle.
take care.
Broc
I neglected to say which ones I think are vomit inspiring scumbags.
Look guys. I am in the import and export business. That is what I do for a living.
Luckily, the majority of my clients are from Europe and the Pacific Rim. I only have a few American clients.
That being said, every single one of the American clients put holds on their orders or back-tracked. It's not that they think that the tariffs are currently too high. Most of the increases in the tariff schedule doesn't even affect their products. What is worrisome is that they are petrified to do anything. They don't want to invest in a 40'GP filled with $250,000 worth of product, and then four months from now, suddenly find that they have to pay 20% of that amount in tariff fees to resolve the B/L.
Now, I get what Trump is doing. I am happy that there is some kind of reset against the massive corruption in the United States. Even if it has to be a rough & tumble New Yorker. Obama was a fiasco. As all American expats know after the passage of HR22 and the double taxation we all face... No. No. Noooooo.
What I can say is this...
1. Americans are under the impression that 80% of what China makes is exported to America. This is false. It is more like 11%. This messed up view point is part of the driver for the negotiations going back and forth between the USA and China. I fear that it will not get resolved until after the November elections. It is alive because of political concerns.
2. America DOES need to put fair and equitable trade agreements in place. At least Trump is not agreeing or signing contracts that put raw cash into his personal bank account. He's trying to make trade balanced. Not that I resent the oligarchy from making some money I just wish that they weren't so greedy about it.
3. America's industry is hurting. It does need support. Though there isn't any reason why Chinese and American companies can't work together towards mutually beneficial aims. I see a future where the industries can work together from a point of view of mutual respect. Both of the industries from both side of the ocean need each other.
I see that all this will eventually be resolved one way or the other AFTER the November elections. Depending on the Congressional elections we could have things either better or worse. Right now the Democrats in Congress are functionally NeoCons (they really should be called NeoLibs) and they want and need a war. They don't care who. Somehow they think that it would be away from them, in a remote far-away place and not involve nukes.
Ouch. far away like in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Poland, or Shanghai. People, this is not 1914. The world is a much smaller place. It will affect all of us.
Hang on tight. If you have an income right now, cultivate it and treasure it. Stay close and tight with your friends and family. Best Regards.
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