Talking about Tariffs

This year’s CHINACOAT will be held Dec. 4-6 in Guangzhou. While attendees will certainly be eager to learn about the latest product and technology offerings, I suspect there will also be a lot of talk about the tariffs President Donald Trump has recently imposed on China and their effect on the coatings industry.

According to a Sept. 17 article in the New York Times, President Trump boasted over Twitter about the power of taxing imports and warned that countries that do not agree to his trade demands will be “tariffed,” escalating tensions as crucial negotiations loom with China and Canada.

According to the article, Trump is not expected to relent and is expected to announce that the United States will impose tariffs on another $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, a move that people familiar with the negotiations say could scuttle trade talks.

Trump has threatened to tax all Chinese goods if Beijing does not change its trade practices and has already levied tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from other countries, including Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

It will be interesting to see how companies based in China feel about these tariffs and whether they are concerned about their impact on the specialty chemical and paint and coatings industries.

Another hot topic at this year’s show will be China’s push to reduce air pollution. According to some reports, China’s strengthened pollution laws have yielded results. In this month’s China Report (p. 42), Arnold Wang reports that China produced 257 thousand tons of container coatings in 2017. As a result of a move to waterborne coatings, the entire container industry reduced 120 thousand tons of VOC. The reduction was the result of a public commitment made by China Container Industry Association, an association led by several of the largest container companies in the world.

The Coatings World team will be on site at CHINACOAT. If you are unable to make the trip to Guangzhou, be sure to sign up for our e-newsletter. We will be covering the show and sending out daily updates. Sign up is free at www.coatingsworld.com.