China: Getting a local Arkansas perspective

Our final meeting was held yesterday at the Shainghai Institute of International Studies, where we continued discussions on the US-China trade imbalance and its unsustainable path, greenhouse gas emissions, tariffs, specific examples of the potential for investment opportunities in Arkansas and the South, and the protection of proprietary and intellectual property interests. In the past two years, Arkansas has become very aggressive in trying to attract Chinese investment, and I've now seen the economic importance and endless opportunities (and the difficulty) of this effort.

After that meeting, Robbie and I ran out after packing our bags to meet with a local Cooper Tire advisor, who happens to be an old high school friend of mine. Bruce Ward began his career in the tire industry at the Cooper plant in Texarkana. He transferred to one of the Cooper Tire plants here in China two years ago to take on an advisory role at the Shandong plant. Bruce and I went to high school and college together, and true to his roots, his biggest project right now is to try and bust through the red tape here to ship his 12 gauge here to China for hunting one weekend this fall.

Bruce lives here in Shanghai and flies weekly to Rongcheng for work. His perspective on U.S investment in China, trade relations, the tire tariff, Chinese workplace environments, and life in China in general was invaluable. He has two kids in an international school here and commented on the difficulty of the curriculum and schedule. I've come away with a different perspective on the power of this emerging economy and the likelihood of its continued growth due to the work ethic and the simple desire to succeed by the people. The trade imbalance and the need to attract Chinese investment to the U.S. aside, the one thing that sticks out here is the appetite for success. It reminds me of the U.S. in the post World War II era. This was truly one of the biggest eye opening and awakening experiences I've had.