China tycoon moves jobs to US |
A Chinese auto glass tycoon has caused a stir by shifting part of his empire to the United States and setting up a factory in Ohio, citing high taxes and soaring labour costs at home. Cao Dewang`s $600-million investment comes after Donald Trump threatened to declare Beijing a currency manipulator and slap 45 percent punitive tariffs on Chinese imports to protect American jobs.The 70-year-old tycoon`s decision to open a glass factory in the eastern American state of Ohio in October - a rare case of jobs being exported from China to the US - triggered an outpouring of criticism on social media.The phrase "Cao Dewang has escaped" became a hot topic, generating nearly 10 million views on the Twitter-like Weibo microblog and many comments urging China to "not let Cao Dewang run away". Cao`s Fuyao Glass Industry Group - a supplier to big names including Volkswagen and General Motors - claims to be the biggest exporter of auto glass in the world, reporting 2.6 billion yuan ($370 million) profits last year.Cao defended himself in an interview with the Beijing News , saying he "did not run and will not run. The centre of my business is in China because I`m Chinese". He added, I`m a business man and I`m doing business in the US," he said. "I`m merely reminding the government" that taxes and labour costs are too high.
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