feddit.org

1 point

5 months ago

Electric cars in the US are more expensive mostly due to higher costs of overhead. For example, we have a minimum wage, and China uses forced labor.

Inside the brutal reality of prison labor where U.S. inmates face injury and lost limbs to fuel major corporations’ supply chains
In China, men currently can retire at 60 years of age, while women who work in factories can retire as early as 50. Female public-sector workers can retire at 55. Each year 3 million Chinese retire. Many retirees have a lot of time and limited resources. They like to hang out in the streets chatting with their friends or congregate in parks doing tai chi, ballroom dancing or some other activity. One elderly man told the New York Times, “Many old Chinese loving fly kites because it can take up much time, and its cost is free.”

:-/

Is this really the same group of people that want US businesses to divest from Israel, defending products made with the slave labor of Uyghurs?

Americans are just mad that we have a perfectly good exploitable population at home.

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disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world

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3 points

5 months ago

I agree. That’s also terrible. They work mostly in farming. If you can avoid these food brands, I suggest you do so.

There are plenty of automobiles manufactured in the US, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and the UK that don’t use forced labor. I also recommend supporting those factories instead of China.

Also, your second link about Chinese retirement has nothing to do with Uyghur slave labor.

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-1 points

5 months ago

There are plenty of automobiles manufactured in the US, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and the UK

And they’re all complicit. BMW, Volkswagon, Jaguar Land Rover all source parts from China.

In fact, the entire US supply chain is reliant on Chinese parts.

Earlier this month, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) said it would be temporarily halting production at a plant in Kragujevac, Serbia due to a lack of parts from China, while Hyundai and Renault have done the same in South Korea.

You can whitewash your supply chain by slapping an western label on Chinese parts. But this isn’t demonstrating any kind of concern for labor rights or ethical insourcing. FFS, we won’t even let Volkswagon plants in Tennessee unionize.

Nevermind Uyghur slave labor. Americans can’t even bargain for better salaries. Its too much for our fragile economy to handle.

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disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world

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2 points

5 months ago

That was true of those brands. They’ve since been pulling out of China, leaving abandoned factories that are now being used by the Chinese market. There are still plenty of other ethical options for automobiles.

Many nations are cracking down on imports related to Uyghur labor.

In December 2021, Congress passed, and President Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) – the strongest tool the United States or any other country has forged in the fight against the atrocities of forced labor.

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2024/05/23/enforcing-uyghur-forced-labor-prevention-act

https://www.politico.eu/article/china-forced-labor-ban-europe-us-uyghur-xinjiang/

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-1 points

5 months ago

They’ve since been pulling out of China

Firstly, no they haven’t. US trade with China has only ever increased year-over-year going back to the 1960s.

Secondly, our hunger for cheap labor is sending us to penal colonies across the rest of the Pacific Rim. This isn’t something that began or ended with a single factory in a single country.

Many nations are cracking down on imports related to Uyghur labor.

They’re not. The business is just being laundered through front companies.

Upon the review of the ASPI report, Skechers said it contacted senior management at Luzhou prior to conducting two additional audits of the factory — none of which revealed any indications of forced labor. Luzhou, however, did confirm that members of the Uyghur ethnic group did comprise a portion of its workforce but were employed under compliant terms and conditions.

Shoving thumbs in my ears and saying “I don’t see the non-compliance, its all fine actually!” and letting the provisions go completely unenforced.

And that’s before you get into direct sales through Ali Baba and Temu

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disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world

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2 points

5 months ago

Again, I agree, but my comment was about automobiles. You have the habit of misrepresenting my point.

https://boydcoddingtonwheels.com/car-companies-pulling-out-of-china/

https://www.iwkoeln.de/en/studies/juergen-matthes-competitive-pressure-from-china-for-german-companies.html

https://www.ft.com/content/d88955d4-2bc8-476e-9cdb-882ca3c3b10d

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/us-lawmakers-press-automakers-cut-reliance-china-over-supply-chains-bloomberg-2023-06-19/

As for other consumer goods, Biden has expanded Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to include more imports.

https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/enforcement/section-301-investigations/tariff-actions

Tariffs aren’t great solutions, but the only alternative would be outright banning. The latter would have a sudden and financially profound impact on American consumers.

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-2 points

5 months ago

Again, I agree, but my comment was about automobiles.

Nearly 40% of Honda’s automobile production took place in China in the last financial year.

Honda would continue to keep its supply chain in China for the domestic market in the world’s second-largest economy while building a separate one for markets outside of China, the Sankei said. It did not say where it got the information.

That’s not “pulling out of China”. That’s a sign of Chinese domestic automobile consumption rising.

Biden has expanded Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to include more imports.

I haven’t seen much to suggest he’s enforcing it. These laws are consistently toothless, in the same way more and more of our regulatory system is toothless.

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