China’s domestic economy […] is also fiercely competitive, plagued by price wars

Really? Plagued? I thought free market competition was good. The Economist, what of your god, Adam Smith?

Johnson Wan of Jefferies, an investment bank, reckons the main reason Chinese firms are building factories abroad is to avoid tariffs

That’s it. That’s what you’ve got? This guy? A Hong Konger who got a Masters in Stats and immediately started a career with the title “Head of”, got an MBA from London Biz, and went straight back into “Head of” roles for the rest of his career. His “reckoning” is going to stand in for like actual journalism or analysis? Why do people buy this rag?

In June American tariffs were extended to many of the solar products made by Chinese firms in South-East Asia, after the Department of Commerce judged that the factories in question were adding little value beyond final assembly.

Oh man, wait until that judge find out about all the “Made in America” products here. Boy I bet that judge will just be red in the face!

Chinese firms have nearly quadrupled their sales in the global south since 2016, whereas Western firms have grown theirs by only a third

Based.

As recently as 2016 listed American and European firms together generated 15 times the foreign sales of Chinese firms in the global south. That ratio has since shrunk to five. Chinese firms already outsell Japanese ones in the developing world.

That’s a HELL of a steep trend line. I wonder what would happen if it was extrapolated.