Failure to Deliver
Newsweek US|June 21 - 28, 2024 (Double Issue)
Multinational companies embraced Chinese factories to lower costs. Their excessive reliance ended up being a central cause of the COVID supply chain meltdown
PETER S.GOODMAN
Failure to Deliver

The COVID-19 pandemic raised alarms across the world on many fronts. Fears of a new virus running rampant, first and foremost. But as the world locked down in a bid to control the virus' spread, other concerns arose, like securing face masks and ventilators, computer chips and car parts-and even toilet paper. Exposed by the pandemic was the tenuous nature of the worldwide supply chain. NEW YORK TIMES global economics correspondent Peter S. Goodman explores these fault lines and how they came to exist in his new book, HOW THE WORLD RAN OUT OF EVERYTHING (Mariner, June). In this excerpt, Goodman analyzes how, decades earlier, businesses worldwide began to rely on China to improve their bottom line by providing cheap labor for manufacturing and an expansive market of consumers, culminating in widespread offshoring and just-in-time shipping-with no safety net.

EVEN FOR A FIGURE INCLINED toward impromptu displays of showmanship, Bill Clinton outdid himself inside the massive banquet hall in the heart of Beijing.

It was a balmy night in June 1998, and the president was in the midst of alternately wooing and pressuring China's government to assent to American terms on a deal bringing the nation into the World Trade Organization. He and then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton were attending a state dinner at the Great Hall of the People, the colonnaded fortress occupying the western edge of Tiananmen Square.

Only nine years earlier, the square had been the locus of an extraordinary protest movement led by students who demanded greater freedom. The People's Liberation Army put down the uprising with a massacre that killed several hundred people. That act of brutality had defined China in international discourse for years after. But China's pariah status was already fading as Western executives salivated over the lucrative opportunities waiting to be exploited there. The Clintons were in Beijing in the service of that cause.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 21 - 28, 2024 (Double Issue) من Newsweek US.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 21 - 28, 2024 (Double Issue) من Newsweek US.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من NEWSWEEK US مشاهدة الكل
Asahi Shokuhin: Think Local, Share Global
Newsweek US

Asahi Shokuhin: Think Local, Share Global

Asahi Shokuhin are bringing Japanese food culture to international markets and introducing people to local specialties.

time-read
2 mins  |
March 14, 2025
Kawasho Foods Global Mission
Newsweek US

Kawasho Foods Global Mission

With demographic challenges affecting industry and society worldwide, Kawasho Foods is providing solutions and contributing to a better tomorrow through its diverse range of products.

time-read
2 mins  |
March 14, 2025
Standout Treatment
Newsweek US

Standout Treatment

Newsweek CONNECTED WITH THE LEADERS OF SOME OF THE TOP U.S. Health Care Systems TO IDENTIFY KEY FEATURES THAT MAKE A HOSPITAL GREAT

time-read
6 mins  |
March 14, 2025
BRINGING WASABI BACK TO IT ROOTS
Newsweek US

BRINGING WASABI BACK TO IT ROOTS

KINJIRUSHI BRINGS AUTHENTIC WASABI, STRICTLY CONTROLLED FROM HARVEST TO END-PRODUCT TO NEW MARKETS THROUGH ITS INNOVATION-LED GROWING AND PROCESSING TECHNIQUES.

time-read
2 mins  |
March 14, 2025
Musk Makes His German Mark
Newsweek US

Musk Makes His German Mark

AfD's rise to become the second-largest party in Bundestag is a boost to the country's conservative movement—and Elon Musk

time-read
6 mins  |
March 14, 2025
Driven To Succeed
Newsweek US

Driven To Succeed

One of the best female drivers of her generation, Jamie Chadwick is now helping other women thrive in the male-dominated arena of single-seat racing

time-read
6 mins  |
March 14, 2025
Jack Quaid
Newsweek US

Jack Quaid

WITH NOVOCAINE (MARCH 14), JACK QUAID IS STEPPING INTO HIS LEADing man era. \"It's the first time I've seen my face prominently featured on a billboard or a poster, and that is so surreal.\"

time-read
2 mins  |
March 14, 2025
White-Collar Recession
Newsweek US

White-Collar Recession

Why unemployed Americans in the professional and business service sector are struggling to find new jobs

time-read
4 mins  |
March 14, 2025
Vincent D'Onofrio
Newsweek US

Vincent D'Onofrio

THE PATH TO GET MARVEL'S DAREDEVIL: BORN Again made was a \"wild\" journey, says Vincent D'Onofrio, who plays Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin, the supervillain at odds with Matt Murdock aka Daredevil (played by Charlie Cox), a lawyer by trade fighting for justice.

time-read
2 mins  |
March 14, 2025
In at the Deep End
Newsweek US

In at the Deep End

Playing real-life commercial divers in the thriller Last Breath took Woody Harrelson and co-stars to new depths

time-read
4 mins  |
March 14, 2025