GANZHOU, China — Chinese copper flat wire manufacturer Wellascent’s decision early last year to build a factory in Texas was a hedge against geopolitical risks. Now the investment is paying off as US import tariffs boost demand for its locally produced goods.
The company’s plant in Grand Prairie will begin production later this year and expects to produce 3,000 metric tons of copper flat wire annually by 2028, serving clients such as automaker Stellantis, from behind the safety of Donald Trump’s tariff wall.
The factory shields US customers from the 50 percent tariff imposed on copper wire imports, along with other semi-finished copper products like tubes, although refined copper – the base ingredient – is exempt from tariffs.
“A few prospective clients in the United States were hesitating about buying our products at the very beginning, as they were concerned Sino-US trade tensions would make stable supply uncertain,” Hazel Zhu, a board member at Wellascent Electronic, told Reuters during a tour of their factory in mid-August.
“A factory in the US means the copper tariffs have in turn become a golden opportunity for us,” she added.
Wellascent plans to invest in three years $100 million in the US plant, which is expected to generate more than half of the company’s overseas revenue within three years.
Wellascent’s investment highlights a rare case where a Chinese company has benefited despite US tariffs designed to counter China’s perceived industrial dominance. But while the investment achieves one of Washington’s stated aims of bringing industry to the United States, it underscores ambivalence among US policymakers about whether to welcome Chinese companies. — GANZHOU, China — Chinese copper flat wire manufacturer Wellascent’s decision early last year to build a factory in Texas was a hedge against geopolitical risks. Now the investment is paying off as US import tariffs boost demand for its locally produced goods.
The company’s plant in Grand Prairie will begin production later this year and expects to produce 3,000 metric tons of copper flat wire annually by 2028, serving clients such as automaker Stellantis, from behind the safety of Donald Trump’s tariff wall.
The factory shields US customers from the 50 percent tariff imposed on copper wire imports, along with other semi-finished copper products like tubes, although refined copper – the base ingredient – is exempt from tariffs.
“A few prospective clients in the United States were hesitating about buying our products at the very beginning, as they were concerned Sino-US trade tensions would make stable supply uncertain,” Hazel Zhu, a board member at Wellascent Electronic, told Reuters during a tour of their factory in mid-August.
“A factory in the US means the copper tariffs have in turn become a golden opportunity for us,” she added.
Wellascent plans to invest in three years $100 million in the US plant, which is expected to generate more than half of the company’s overseas revenue within three years.
Wellascent’s investment highlights a rare case where a Chinese company has benefited despite US tariffs designed to counter China’s perceived industrial dominance. But while the investment achieves one of Washington’s stated aims of bringing industry to the United States, it underscores ambivalence among US policymakers about whether to welcome Chinese companies.
