This article appears in the December 18, 2020 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
The Trump-Xi Big Deals of 2017
Worth $253 Billion for China-U.S.A.
[Print version of this article]
Dec. 14—The map and the accompanying descriptions of the $253.5 billion in agreements for Chinese investments in the United States, which were reached between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping during Trump’s visit to China in November 2017, were originally published in the 2018 Schiller Institute report, The New Silk Road Becomes the World Land-Bridge, Volume II. With the exception of the grain purchases negotiated by President Trump in the trade negotiations, all the other investments were sabotaged by the McCarthyite anti-China campaign led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The headline on the accords in the China Daily “China Watch” supplement, published in several U.S. newspapers on November 29, 2017, was “Sino-U.S. Ties at New, Historic Starting Point.”
Gas, Oil, and Petrochemical Industry
West Virginia: $83.7 billion in projects for the development of shale gas in the tri-state region, involving pipeline infrastructure, a new storage hub in the state, and petro-chemical manufacturing. China Energy Investment Corp., Ltd. signed a Memorandum of Understanding with state Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher for plans covering 20 years. The idea is that this region will become the second petro-chemical center of the United States, after the Gulf Coast.
Alaska: $43 billion of investments to build a new 800-mile gas pipeline, and agreements for China to import Alaskan LNG were signed as a Letter of Intent by Sinopec, the China Investment Corp., and the Alaska Gasoline Development Corp., a state sponsored entity. Bank of China is ready to provide financing. The pipeline will run from the North Slope southward to the Kenai Peninsula.
Texas: A $32 billion package of new and already agreed-upon deals was set, involving the energy sector. Among the elements: a 700-mile pipeline from the Permian oil and gas fields in West Texas to the Gulf Coast; a new storage facility on the Coast, as well as expansion of the existing Limetree hub in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Houston-based American Ethane Co. signed a $26 billion contract with China’s Nanshan Group for supplying ethane gas over a 20-year period.
Aviation and Electronics
Washington: $37 billion to Boeing Co. (headquarters, Chicago) from orders and investments by China Aviation Supplies Holding for 300 aircraft over the coming years. Boeing’s largest factory is in Everett, Washington, which, with factories in other states, will produce 260 narrow-body 737s, and 40 wide-body 787s and 777s.
California: $12 billion in orders to Qualcomm were made by three Chinese firms for the purchase of semi-conductors over the next three years. The buyers are Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo. Qualcomm, headquartered in San Diego, outsources most of its production, meaning that some of the work to fulfill these orders, may come from China itself.
Indiana: $3.5 billion in deals were made by General Electric Co. with Chinese buyers, for GE to supply aviation and power generation components. Headquartered in Boston, GE has factories in many states, including, especially, engine manufacturing sites in Indiana, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Alabama.
Agriculture
Illinois: $5 billion in increased commitments by China to buy U.S. soybeans over the 2017-2018 marketing year were made between Chinese buyers and the U.S. Soybean Council (based in Missouri). The top five U.S. soybean producing states are Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Indiana. The letters of intent called for an additional 12 million metric tons, over the levels of U.S. soybean exports to China already expected.
Montana: A $300 million deal was made between the Montana Stockgrowers Association and the Chinese giant e-retailer, JD.com, for the company to invest $100 million in a new feedlot and packing plant in the state, and to buy $200 million worth of cattle, for marketing Montana brand beef in China. This deal came on top of a growing volume of U.S. beef exports to China, which were resumed in Summer 2017 after China had banned U.S. beef imports since 2003, over disease concerns. The export approval came after the April 2017 Mar-a-Lago meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping.
