Retaliation

China is threatening to retaliate against US arms manufacturers who sell equipment to Taiwan. It’s not the first time such threats have been made, but the nature of the trade war has lent them a degree of credibility this time around:

The three most obvious targets for sanction, according to the New York Times, are General Dynamics, Oshkosh, and Raytheon, which administer production of the Abrams tank, heavy transportation vehicles, and the Stinger missile, respectively. General Dynamics sells Gulfstream jets all over the world, Oshkosh sells a variety of emergency vehicles in China, and Raytheon, through its proposed merger with United Technologies, has some exposure in the Chinese market. However, given the vast array of contractors and subcontractors that contribute to the production of modern military equipment, Beijing could almost certainly find other firms to blacklist.

It’s interesting that the Raytheon-United merger is exposing the company on this issue.