Bush Trade Deficit fake:Motorola $1.1 b China deal to be all made in China

[papau]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1504&ncid=1504&e=7&u=/afp/20040114/bs_afp/china_us_telecom_040114080219

Motorola says equipment in 1.1 bln dlr China deal to be made in mainland

BEIJING, (AFP) - Some 1.1 billion dollars of telecoms equipment bought amid fanfare by a high-profile Chinese purchasing group in Washington will largely be made by China-based factories, officials here said. <snip>

US Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, who witnessed the signings, described the deals as "a monumental event".

It was Evans who late last year in Beijing urged China to make efforts to level an expected 130 billion dollar trading surplus with the United States.

But with most of the products made in China and sold to mainland-based companies, the deals were unlikely to make much of a dent in the surplus which rose from 102 billion in 2002. <snip>

A Lucent source meanwhile said the majority of its 350 million dollar contract with China Unicom and China Telecom also announced in Washington Tuesday was part of an existing deal first announced in September 2003. Most of the equipment covered in the deal -- which will see Lucent provide further support for the phase three expansion of China Unicom's CDMA2000 mobile network -- will also be made in China at Lucent joint ventures and shipped for use on the mainland "over a period of months". <snip>


http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-tech-china-usa.html

US Cos. Sign $2.3 Bln in China Tech Deals
By REUTERS Published: January 13, 2004 Filed at 1:09 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. telecommunications and computer equipment makers signed $2.3 billion in contracts with Chinese companies on Tuesday, including deals worth about $1.1 billion to Motorola Inc.

Motorola, the No. 2 maker of wireless phones in the world, signed deals with wireless operators China Unicom Ltd. and China Mobile to provide equipment, including wireless base stations and switches, that will route mobile calls.

The equipment sales are the latest in a series of high-profile deals that Beijing hopes will cool protectionist sentiment in Congress. Many U.S. lawmakers see China's estimated $125 billion trade surplus with the United States in 2003 as evidence that it is an unfair trader.

China signed a deal in November to buy 30 Boeing Co.airliners and engines from General Electric Co. for $1.7 billion. And the U.S. Agriculture Department announced on Tuesday that China had purchased 1.04 million tonnes of U.S. wheat.<snip>

But concern in Congress that China's pegged exchange rate gives it an unfair trade advantage remains strong. Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, recently told reporters he saw broad support for a bill that would impose a 27.5 percent tariff on Chinese imports until Beijing allows its currency to float freely.

[seasat]

1. That is something that I've had questions about.

How much of the balance is related to dollars spent on manufacturing in the US? Does imports and exports take into account US companies recieving parts from overseas divisions of the same company? I think this also plays into the increased productivity numbers that are being touted. If Motorola produces a billion dollars but has a lower cost due to overseas production, wouldn't this make US Motorola employees look more productive? Does the productivity index take offshore production into account? I want to find time to research this myself. If anyone else has looked into this, I'd be really interested in what they found.

[papau]

2. using low cost offshore increases profits & "productivity"

last I looked the macro version of productivity was just SEC US corporate $ earned per US worker COST. - BUT THERE MANY WAYS TO DEFINE IT! say per hour worked?

and -also - reported for tax and SEC are not the same.