China's failed rebound post-Covid has drawn back the curtain on its larger economic challenges.
The bottom line for many U.S. investors and businesses is that Chinese exposure is turning into a liability. One of my bigger regrets from college is that I couldn't — because of scheduling and other conflicts — go on a six-week trip the business school was offering to China. This was back in 2007, when it was just becoming clear that China was going to be the world's Next Big Thing.
It took several years, but I finally managed to visit, in 2012, as part of a work assignment with CNBC. I only had time to see Beijing, but that was plenty to take in. I was struck first and foremost by its sheer size; city blocks that made those in Washington, D.C., look small by comparison. There were few places to stop to pick up food or coffee while on a long walk — obvious opportunity for Starbucks.
Still, I would have thought that by 2023, we'd all be looking back on China's dazzling development and discussing how its myriad problems had been resolved. Instead, the opposite is happening. China's failed rebound post-Covid has drawn back the curtain on its larger economic challenges, and the bottom line for many U.S. investors and businesses is that Chinese exposure — which powered returns for the past 15 years — is turning into a liability.