April 14, 2025 • 7 mins
Our Shanghai-based business correspondent shares his thoughts on the impact of Trump’s tariffs in China and on US farmers. He also talks about how red meat is faring – and the wild weather that closed Shanghai’s airport on Saturday.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're off to Shanghai, China. Now on the country there
we find Key Week businessman Hunter MacGregor. Good afternoon, Hunter,
Good afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Right.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hey, look, I've been dying to chat to you after
the world kind of went crazy with Trump's tariffs in China.
What are some of the response you're seeing over there.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Well, surprisingly enough, I'm not actually seeing too much of
a response. You know, people are not panicking about the
tariffs coming in. They don't seem to worry. I'm sure
it's going to have an impact on the economy here
and for companies that only export to the US is
going to be a bit of a problem. But you know,
(00:40):
people can see this coming. I think when Trump put
the initial tariff sign on his first term there was
a bit of a shock. But since then, you know,
people can see a lot of people can see there's
probably been some riding on the war in this, and
to be fair, the likes of Walmart and any of
the big companies out of America in China a lot
(01:02):
they've been pushing for years to get your supply chain
and factories out of China. So you know, I think that, yeah,
the average punter doesn't really is not really too worried.
There's no panic, and a lot of people are willing
to roll up their sleeves and see see how it
goes sort of thing, you know. And then you know,
with Trump, you know, putting some exemptions into you know,
(01:24):
with mobile phones and electronics and stuff. A lot of
Chinese people think that Trump has blinked first and backing down.
So yeah, it's interesting times.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, indeed, and Trump saying, you know, all China has
to do is pick up the phone on open to negotiations.
Do you reckon that will actually happen.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I don't need to be a rush to pick up
the phone from the from the Chinese, so I know
not at all. Now, what what the Chinese have done
is they've put the towers up from products coming into
from America up to one hundred and twenty five percent,
which more or less stops the trade of you know,
just about everything. And they've said, we're not going to
go any higher. That's that's where we're going to be.
(02:05):
If America wants to go higher, they can go higher,
So they're not going to go keep going to the tat.
So they sort of stopped there. But you know, if
you look at some of the products that are going
from China, you know, to the US, it's more sort
of high end electronics and things like that. It's not
cheap clothing and cheap shoes and things like that. A
(02:26):
lot of that sort of stuff that's already left China
and in Southeast Asia, and they've been hit by tariffs
as well. But you know, microwaves, for example, ninety percent
of microwaves imported into the States is from China. You know,
eighty percent of mobile phones and around sixty percent of laptops.
So you know, you can see why he sort of
(02:47):
added some exemptions.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah. Absolutely, and we've seen the same for wood products
as well to help that industry. To look. I chatted
to our US farming correspondent lungast week Todd plug an
interesting time for US farmers even before they started kicking
off with great beef prices. But the grain farmers are
(03:09):
just really struggling, and that's going to get worse and
be exacerbated by this.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Oh yeah, unfortunately, they're going to get it's going to
only going to get worse. For the sawyer beans, exports
to China are around about forty eight forty five percent
of the total crop in the US. So if that stops,
or the Chinese source from probably Brazil, Argentina, maybe a
(03:35):
bit from Russia, you know, that market will be gone
and China won't come back. You know, they're not going
to come back because the tariffs are gone, because they
can't they're learning to work with trust a partners. So
the poor US farmer is going to be hit. And also,
you know American beef in here. You know, there's nearly
(03:55):
two point seven billion dollars of American beef is exported
into China. It's a high quality, high end product. It
sits at the top of the market, and you know
that's going to be gone as well. It's kind of
significantly slow down. And you know that grain fed beef
is exactly your high marbling. That's what the Chinese consumer wants,
(04:17):
and they will have to source this that elsewhere. Probably
in the short term, the Australians will pick up the slack,
you know, because they have a lot of grain fed beef.
There will be more more demand for New Zealand beef.
But we don't sit at the high end tables and
you know around China and you know we don't have
(04:40):
grass fed beef is not at the premium end of
the market. You know, USD a prime grain fed is
what the what the consumer wants. But funny enough to
keep hearing from chefs that are you know these people
order these really high, high marbling marble piece of meat
and then then complain about how fatty it is. So yeah, yeah, Look,
(05:02):
some of the American beef is actually quite good. I
bought some the other day because it's probably not going
to be available again for a while. But you know,
it is what it is. But you know it's going
to really affect that they music the American farmer across
many aspects, which is not good.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It's not good for anyone, No, it's not, indeed, And yeah,
and I go back to my point of it being disgusting.
Each to their own. I'm very much an I fill
it or nothing kind of girl. I don't like fat
and my meat, and I've tried some of this marbled
meat when I was out for dinner, must have been
a couple of months ago, and I just couldn't get
through it. Hunter personal preference, I honestly don't know why
(05:40):
people want that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Well, I think the Japanese do it well with regards
to marble meat, they have a very small portion. Yeah
that's beautiful, and they cook it really quickly and that's great.
But you know, a big sort of five hundred grand
piece of fat is not really my cup of tea
as well. But you know, for me, I like eating grass,
big grain fed. I like to eat everything. I want
to understand what's happening in the market, So it's one
(06:03):
of those things that I do. You know, it's like
going to different restaurants and bars. Sometimes it's got to be.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Done absolutely, Hunter, What is the next kind of a
couple of weeks have in store for you? Where are
you heading? What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, we're heading into some good weather. We've got May
Day holidays coming up the first five days of May,
so everyone's sort of planning their trips for that. It's
a good time of the year. But we're just sort
of knuckling down and focusing on work, trying to get
a few more restaurants to to buy a bit of
New Zealand meet and develop my retail sales. So it's
(06:37):
a good time of the year to get on and
crack on and do stuff. So and looking forward to
a bit of a break in the first five days
of May.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Nice Nice already having a text coming through Hunter and
five double O nine. Ifil at steak is the vanilla
ice cream of steaks, I'll absolutely wear that one because
that's my favorite ice cream flavor. So Hunter Agriga out
of China, Shanghai, appreciate your time and it May Day holiday.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Thanks right,
We're off to Shanghai, China. Now on the country there
we find Key Week businessman Hunter MacGregor. Good afternoon, Hunter,
Good afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Right.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hey, look, I've been dying to chat to you after
the world kind of went crazy with Trump's tariffs in China.
What are some of the response you're seeing over there.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Well, surprisingly enough, I'm not actually seeing too much of
a response. You know, people are not panicking about the
tariffs coming in. They don't seem to worry. I'm sure
it's going to have an impact on the economy here
and for companies that only export to the US is
going to be a bit of a problem. But you know,
(00:40):
people can see this coming. I think when Trump put
the initial tariff sign on his first term there was
a bit of a shock. But since then, you know,
people can see a lot of people can see there's
probably been some riding on the war in this, and
to be fair, the likes of Walmart and any of
the big companies out of America in China a lot
(01:02):
they've been pushing for years to get your supply chain
and factories out of China. So you know, I think that, yeah,
the average punter doesn't really is not really too worried.
There's no panic, and a lot of people are willing
to roll up their sleeves and see see how it
goes sort of thing, you know. And then you know,
with Trump, you know, putting some exemptions into you know,
(01:24):
with mobile phones and electronics and stuff. A lot of
Chinese people think that Trump has blinked first and backing down.
So yeah, it's interesting times.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, indeed, and Trump saying, you know, all China has
to do is pick up the phone on open to negotiations.
Do you reckon that will actually happen.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I don't need to be a rush to pick up
the phone from the from the Chinese, so I know
not at all. Now, what what the Chinese have done
is they've put the towers up from products coming into
from America up to one hundred and twenty five percent,
which more or less stops the trade of you know,
just about everything. And they've said, we're not going to
go any higher. That's that's where we're going to be.
(02:05):
If America wants to go higher, they can go higher,
So they're not going to go keep going to the tat.
So they sort of stopped there. But you know, if
you look at some of the products that are going
from China, you know, to the US, it's more sort
of high end electronics and things like that. It's not
cheap clothing and cheap shoes and things like that. A
(02:26):
lot of that sort of stuff that's already left China
and in Southeast Asia, and they've been hit by tariffs
as well. But you know, microwaves, for example, ninety percent
of microwaves imported into the States is from China. You know,
eighty percent of mobile phones and around sixty percent of laptops.
So you know, you can see why he sort of
(02:47):
added some exemptions.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah. Absolutely, and we've seen the same for wood products
as well to help that industry. To look. I chatted
to our US farming correspondent lungast week Todd plug an
interesting time for US farmers even before they started kicking
off with great beef prices. But the grain farmers are
(03:09):
just really struggling, and that's going to get worse and
be exacerbated by this.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Oh yeah, unfortunately, they're going to get it's going to
only going to get worse. For the sawyer beans, exports
to China are around about forty eight forty five percent
of the total crop in the US. So if that stops,
or the Chinese source from probably Brazil, Argentina, maybe a
(03:35):
bit from Russia, you know, that market will be gone
and China won't come back. You know, they're not going
to come back because the tariffs are gone, because they
can't they're learning to work with trust a partners. So
the poor US farmer is going to be hit. And also,
you know American beef in here. You know, there's nearly
(03:55):
two point seven billion dollars of American beef is exported
into China. It's a high quality, high end product. It
sits at the top of the market, and you know
that's going to be gone as well. It's kind of
significantly slow down. And you know that grain fed beef
is exactly your high marbling. That's what the Chinese consumer wants,
(04:17):
and they will have to source this that elsewhere. Probably
in the short term, the Australians will pick up the slack,
you know, because they have a lot of grain fed beef.
There will be more more demand for New Zealand beef.
But we don't sit at the high end tables and
you know around China and you know we don't have
(04:40):
grass fed beef is not at the premium end of
the market. You know, USD a prime grain fed is
what the what the consumer wants. But funny enough to
keep hearing from chefs that are you know these people
order these really high, high marbling marble piece of meat
and then then complain about how fatty it is. So yeah, yeah, Look,
(05:02):
some of the American beef is actually quite good. I
bought some the other day because it's probably not going
to be available again for a while. But you know,
it is what it is. But you know it's going
to really affect that they music the American farmer across
many aspects, which is not good.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It's not good for anyone, No, it's not, indeed, And yeah,
and I go back to my point of it being disgusting.
Each to their own. I'm very much an I fill
it or nothing kind of girl. I don't like fat
and my meat, and I've tried some of this marbled
meat when I was out for dinner, must have been
a couple of months ago, and I just couldn't get
through it. Hunter personal preference, I honestly don't know why
(05:40):
people want that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Well, I think the Japanese do it well with regards
to marble meat, they have a very small portion. Yeah
that's beautiful, and they cook it really quickly and that's great.
But you know, a big sort of five hundred grand
piece of fat is not really my cup of tea
as well. But you know, for me, I like eating grass,
big grain fed. I like to eat everything. I want
to understand what's happening in the market, So it's one
(06:03):
of those things that I do. You know, it's like
going to different restaurants and bars. Sometimes it's got to be.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Done absolutely, Hunter, What is the next kind of a
couple of weeks have in store for you? Where are
you heading? What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, we're heading into some good weather. We've got May
Day holidays coming up the first five days of May,
so everyone's sort of planning their trips for that. It's
a good time of the year. But we're just sort
of knuckling down and focusing on work, trying to get
a few more restaurants to to buy a bit of
New Zealand meet and develop my retail sales. So it's
(06:37):
a good time of the year to get on and
crack on and do stuff. So and looking forward to
a bit of a break in the first five days
of May.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Nice Nice already having a text coming through Hunter and
five double O nine. Ifil at steak is the vanilla
ice cream of steaks, I'll absolutely wear that one because
that's my favorite ice cream flavor. So Hunter Agriga out
of China, Shanghai, appreciate your time and it May Day holiday.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Thanks right,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!