Roughly 95 per cent of the bicycles sold in the US come from China.
Roughly 95 per cent of the bicycles sold in the US come from China.
US-China trade war
Podcasts

Behind the Tariffs: How bicycles link China and the US

  • How the supply chain connecting Shanghai with North Carolina to supply America’s bicycles is under strain from tariffs and the trade war
  • The American company and its Chinese partner working to find a way around the tariffs on steel, aluminium and components that are punishing their businesses

Jarrod WattNaomi NgFinbarr Bermingham
Jarrod Watt Naomi Ng and Finbarr Bermingham

Updated: 12:21pm, 3 Oct, 2019

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Roughly 95 per cent of the bicycles sold in the US come from China.
Roughly 95 per cent of the bicycles sold in the US come from China.

Roughly 95 per cent of the bicycles sold in the United States are imported from China, and tariffs on steel and aluminium are combining with tariffs on bicycle components to force companies to make some tough decisions.

Kent International is an American bicycle manufacturer and distributor in the direct line of fire of the trade war. Listen as Kent CEO Arnold Kamler recounts his company’s history of importing bicycles from Taiwan, then Southeast Asia, and eventually mainland China through the latter decades of the 20th century.

Kamler explains how the company found itself hit with a double whammy on tariffs, and being told by US trade officials that his newly-opened multi-million dollar assembly plant in South Carolina doesn’t qualify him as a US manufacturer worth protecting.

We go to Shanghai to meet Kamler’s business partner, Ge Lei, who runs a massive bicycle plant in China’s biggest city, and hear how US tariffs may force him to relocate to Cambodia. Lei also explains how Chinese firms are trying to beat the tariffs.

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Featuring:

Arnold Kamler, CEO, Kent International, New Jersey

Ge Lei; general manager, General Sports, Shanghai

Additional reporting by Yang Yang

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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.