I spend a great deal of time in Spain and am deeply concerned for the Spanish economy which is suffering greatly from a ridiculous excess of imports from China.When I was in 6th Form (rather a lot of moons ago) I recall our headteacher explaining how the Japanese had ruined our motorcycle industry by dumping.
He stated that in the 50s/60s garages were being offered stupendous bargains to take on dealerships for Honda, Suzuki et al. Undoubtedly, these excellent machines were being sold at a significant loss in order to undermine the market in the UK which quickly found that it could no longer compete.
Norton, BSA, Raleigh, NSU all took a mighty hammering.
It is my belief that communist nations still want to take over the world - but the Chinese prefer to do this, not through military power but rather by using the capitalist system to undermine - well - the capitalist system.
In Spain today, the number of Chinese goods on sale is frightening. Not only are these found in every type of shop imaginable but in countless little shops which seemingly sell every product you could possibly want.
In addition, there are giant emporia in every direction. There are three giant ones within a kilometre of our house and numerous smaller shops.
The largest of all - which I choose not to name - is in a relatively isolated area and I have seldom seen there be more customers than there are staff! The stock must be worth millions of euros but the profits can barely be higher than those of one of our local corner shops, here in Sheffield. But of course, they are, in practice making huge losses.
It is most assuredly impossible that they are not being kept open by heavy subsidies from Beijing. The object is not to make profits in the initial stages - now nearly complete - but to undermine Spanish factories and production.
Even Spanish footwear, some of the best in the world and always great value, is seeing hundreds of factories, large and small, in Elche take a battering.
To an intelligent readership, I am sure that I do not have to explain how this is having a dreadful effect on the Spanish economy and the ratio of imports to exports is being undermined daily.
In the UK, we are a long way behind this kind of calamity but note how many goods, from tyres to telephones, are now being made in China. Note how many top 'British brands' have that little label on the box, Made in China. Once you begin looking - you will be astonished how many there are.
Take Neill tools, Sheffield, which used to produce gardening tools under so many well known names - Spear and Jackson - to name but one of many, are all now made in -----.
That business still prospers but virtually no tools are made in Sheffield any more. The premises are nothing more than a giant import warehouse.
It is imperative that the UK uses Brexit to rebuild our manufacturing base and that must commence by introducing a mega Buy British campaign. You know, one of the practices that the EU refused to let us put in place!
To be a wealthy nation, we need to create a huge balance of payments surplus.
However nice it may be to have trading deals across the globe without idiotic EU proscriptions, rebuilding this nation's industrial base is imperative.
.jpeg)