‘You think we’re afraid of America?’

David Xu works for an auto-parts company based in Shanghai that used to export mainly to the Los Angeles area. Over the past three years, he told me, he’s dropped his U.S. exports by 40 percent and replaced them with a roster of Latin American clients. “China isn’t afraid of tariffs anymore,” Xu said. His fellow exporters have “gone global,” doing business in the Middle East, South America, and Eastern Europe. China was once the factory of the world. Gradually, it has become the factory of the developing world.