A handbag.
A handbag.
US-China trade war
Podcasts

Behind the Tariffs: Handbags, game controllers and the battle over intellectual property

  • Why would an American entrepreneur choose to manufacture handbags in China? Why are shipments of gaming hardware from Hong Kong to New York being locked up?
  • Unravel the truth behind the trade war and how tariffs are impacting people

Jarrod WattNaomi NgFinbarr Bermingham
Jarrod Watt Naomi Ng and Finbarr Bermingham

Updated: 11:21am, 26 Jun, 2019

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A handbag.
A handbag.

One woman in Philadelphia is trying to live the American dream as an innovator, manufacturer and CEO of her own company. Another woman in Hong Kong is running a company established by her father, exporting gaming hardware to the US. Both have found that their businesses may no longer be viable as a result of the trade war - either because of tariffs or from a slightly more oblique concept known as “non-tariff barriers”.

Listen in as Sherrill Mosee talks us through her decision to have her unique handbags manufactured in a country renowned for its ‘knock off’ industry. Also, to Anna Kam as takes us into the heart of the gaming hardware industry, the careful negotiations with major tech brands, and how lately she’s not just losing customers, she’s losing colleagues and the local community as more and more people become disillusioned and leave the industry.

Both Mosee and Kam are wrangling with intellectual property, one of the major battlefronts for the US in this trade war. However, in this episode, we explain how the US attitude towards IP differs from that of China and Japan, which also fought a protracted trade war with the US through the 1970s and 80s.

Featuring:

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Sherrill Mosee; CEO, Minkee Blue, Philadelphia

Anna Kam; head of sales, Sky City, Hong Kong

David Dodwell, trade economist, Hong Kong

Listen or subscribe via iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher

Jarrod Watt

Jarrod Watt

Jarrod Watt joined the Post in 2015 after more than a decade working as a multi-platform reporter and editor with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, creating video, radio and text stories. He currently produces podcasts and video, as well as developing new digital storytelling methods, including augmented reality and 360 interactive photography.

Naomi Ng

Naomi Ng

Naomi worked as a reporter at the South China Morning Post from 2015 to 2019. She has previously written for CNN International in Hong Kong, and Mizzima news in Myanmar.

Finbarr Bermingham

Finbarr Bermingham

Finbarr Bermingham reports on Europe-China relations for the Post. He joined the newspaper in 2018, initially on the Political Economy desk reporting primarily on global trade, economics and geopolitics. After a decade on the trade beat in London and Hong Kong, he took up the role of Europe Correspondent, moving to Brussels to report from the heart of the EU. Having helmed the US-China Trade War Update, a weekly podcast, since 2019, he is the current host of the China Geopolitics Podcast.