Behind the Tariffs: Trucks, trade services and Hong Kong’s trade war conundrum

  • Hong Kong’s massive logistics and service economy is being battered by the effects of the US-China trade war
  • Inside the life of a Hong Kong truck driver facing unemployment as the effects of tariffs reshape the the nature of manufacturing in southern China

Naomi Ng,Finbarr Berminghamin BrusselsandJarrod Wattin Hong Kong
A semitrailer truck.

If the US-China trade war has a no-man’s land, then maybe it’s somewhere near a truckstop not far from the Lo Wu border crossing that regulates traffic between mainland China and Hong Kong.

Finbarr Bermingham travels up to a once-busy truckers’ diner to meet Kwok Yip-biu, who has driven trucks back and forth over the border for 30 years. Kwok recalls the “golden era” of Hong Kong as a gateway for trade into and out of mainland China, and how, lately, the trade war has put the brakes on the local economy.

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