"It's the funniest joke I've ever heard."

At the presidential palace in Gosner, President Rui said to European journalists Konz and Bernstein:

"Do Westerners take us Africans for fools? Please don't underestimate our wisdom! Do we not know whether we should accept help from China, and whether this help will cause damage to our economy?"

"President Rui, this has happened in history. Latin America had a debt crisis because they had taken too many loans. When they get loans, the economy is very prosperous, and when these loans are used up and they need to repay their debts, there is a serious economic crisis. "Kantz gave Rui an economics lesson.

Rui nodded and said, "Thank you, Mr. Koontz, for the reminder, in fact, our Chinese friends have already given us the same reminder." They explained to us the reasons for the debt crisis in Latin America, and it was all because the loans were provided by Western conglomerates, while we were receiving loans from China. ”

"Can you tell me what's the difference between Western loans and Chinese loans?" Bernstein asked.

"Our Chinese friends have said that the reason why the West provided a large amount of loans to Latin America back then was that the Western economy fell into stagflation, and there was a large amount of money in the Western financial market that could not find a way out, so they set their eyes on Latin America," Rui said. These Western conglomerates lend money to Latin American governments to encourage them to build all kinds of large and inappropriate engineering projects, and even spend them on some extravagant consumption, so when the money is spent, these countries are in debt crisis. By the way, poverty in many African countries is also due to these Western conglomerates. ”

"Uh...... I admit that some bankers in the West may be less responsible. Koontz's face was a little red, as a financial reporter, how could he not understand the trickiness of this?

"So, what about Chinese loans?" Bernstein asked.

"When the Chinese give us a loan, they have a whole set of repayment plans," Rui said. They say this is the approach they used to take when they borrowed money from the West. They will make sure that every loan application will create solvency, and if an investment is not financially rewarding, they will advise us to abandon the project. ”

"That sounds profound. Bernstein muttered.

Rui laughed: "Actually, it's easy. The Chinese helped us make a detailed economic plan, telling us how much foreign exchange support we could reduce from abroad each year if we built a fertilizer plant, and how much tax revenue could be generated for the government by increasing food. In the end, they concluded that it would only take four years to recoup the entire investment and repay all the loans by investing in a fertilizer plant. In fact, even I can understand their algorithms, let alone our economic officials. ”

Koontz asked meaningfully: "Does this mean that Africa will become an economic colony of China?"

"China does not regard Africa as an economic colony, China regards Africa as an equal trading partner. Their technology is more advanced and they are more well-funded, and they use money and technology to help us grow. In fact, Gosner's economy has grown by more than 15 percent per year for the past two years, and many of our farmers have been able to feed themselves, something that Europeans have not done in their hundreds of years in Gosner. If you think this is economic colonization, then I think it's probably a good kind of colonization. ”

A few days later, a European newspaper published an article written by Contz and Bernstein entitled "President Gosner Says He Welcomes China's Economic Colonization," in which he interpreted Rui's conversation in various ways in a black-and-white way, and even claimed to have seen all kinds of interesting expressions on Rui's face, indicating that his words were full of insincerity.

As soon as such an article was issued, it naturally aroused the clamor of a large number of boring people, but European politicians know very well that the so-called insincerity does not exist at all, and the words said by Rui are really the attitude of African governments towards China. Behind this headline party is the decline of European power in Africa and the rise of Chinese power in Africa.

Perhaps, it would be good to let the Chinese develop in Africa, at least to divert the attention of the Americans, right?

European politicians console themselves in this way. In fact, they also know that they are no longer able to participate in international governance, and they have become spectators of what is happening on the Blue Star.

"I've heard that Chinese companies have asked their customers to postpone the supply of chips because of the lack of follow-up chip supply. This is your opportunity to expand production, seize the market, and squeeze the Chinese out of Africa and Latin America. ”

In his White House office, Maple said to Regin, the president of Haifei, who had come to visit.

"Mr. President, since you issued a chip ban on Chinese companies such as Luo Ye and Chen Yu, our competitors in China have indeed encountered great difficulties. They are now revising the product design in an attempt to replace the Lanna and Plaster chips with some obsolete ones. However, it will take some time, and the revised design may not be immediately accepted by users, which is a good opportunity for us. Rekin said.

"So what are you waiting for? Why are you still sitting with me instead of rushing back to arrange production right away? You should produce 1 million dump trucks to replace Chinese vehicles in mines in Africa and Latin America. Maple said. He is not a person without common sense, and the so-called statement of 1 million dump trucks is just his habitual exaggeration.

Rekin smiled bitterly: "Mr. President, I came to visit you because we have encountered new difficulties. If these difficulties are not solved, our products will not be competitive, or even compete with the previous generation of products made by the Chinese. ”

"What's your difficulty?" asked Map, frowning.

"This difficulty comes from another order issued by Mr. President," Reggin said. You announced last month a 50 percent tariff on metal products from China, which has dramatically increased our production costs. As you know, our products have always not had too strong an advantage in price, once the cost increases, and it is greatly increased, our products will not be able to compete with Chinese products. ”

"Why would I raise your costs by taxing metal products?" asked Mepp in surprise.

Lei Jin sighed and said: "That's right, the dump trucks and other construction machinery we manufacture need to use standard parts from China, including gears, bearings, connectors, etc., which are all metal products. The cost of these standard parts accounts for more than 20% of our equipment cost, and if the tax is increased by 50%, it means that our equipment cost will increase by 10%. ”

"Are you saying that at least 20 percent of the cost of your equipment is used to buy standard parts from China?" asked Mepp.

"In fact, in addition to the standard parts, we also have some customized parts from China, and the cost is also very considerable," Rekin said. We hope that the government can remove these standard parts and custom parts from the list of tax increases, so as to reduce our production costs and improve our competitiveness. ”

"No, no, no, I'm going to do the opposite, I'm going to raise their tax rates, say, to 100 percent, or even 200 percent. Mapp said.

"Why?" Lei Jin was stunned, no matter how this guy said it, he turned his face, and he looked like he was wholeheartedly thinking about the company in front of him, and now he would talk like this.

"It's very simple, I want you to give up importing standard parts from China, and don't let your Chinese partners make any parts," Mepu said. You should let American companies provide you with the support so that you can revitalize the manufacturing industry in the United States. ”

"But there are no such factories in the United States, and companies like ours import these standard parts from China. Reggin argued.

"That's right, what I want to change is this irrationality," Maple said. Mr. Regin, please tell your colleagues that I will keep the tax rate on metal products at 50% for the time being, but I will soon increase them to 100%. If the increase in the tax rate still does not stop American companies from importing parts from China, then I will raise the tax rate to 200%, or even more. Your only way out is to find suppliers in the United States. I think the small business owners in Texas will appreciate my policy, and when you work with them, you'll know how great my policy is, because you don't have to go across the Pacific to buy parts anymore. ”

"Mr. President, that's not how it happened!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Regin, but it's time for your meeting. ”

“……”

Reggin was pushed out by the secretary, and Mapp turned to Commerce Secretary Fitzel, who had been sitting silently, and said: "These hateful businessmen, they don't have the interests of the United States in their hearts at all, they just think about their own interests. They want me to beat their Chinese competitors for them, but they don't want to support American parts suppliers. I won't condone that, the Ministry of Commerce is going to launch an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese metal products, and if necessary, it can prohibit companies from buying these damn standard parts from China. ”

"I'm afraid this will affect the normal production of American companies. Fitzel reminded.

"They can solve these problems on their own. ”

"Okay, I'll do it. ”

Fitzel said expressionlessly. He knew very well what Reggin was talking about, and he also knew that Mapp's idea was simply unreliable. But he didn't bother to argue with Maep, so he waited for the facts to educate the stubborn Grand Commander.