What is Hong Kong?

The US did not run record trade deficits with China in the last five months because gold exports, routed via Hong Kong and Switzerland, were the largest product category offsetting the gap rather than dollar-denominated treasury settlements.

“The last five months the reason America didn't run record trade deficits with China is because of huge amounts in the product section. So there's products and services. the largest amount in the product was gold export to a combination of Hong Kong and Switzerland which often sees further refinement and onto China as well.”

Packets destined for China always traverse Chinese carriers regardless of where the router is physically located, so evicting Chinese telecom racks from the US does not prevent Chinese access to US IP traffic.

“Packets to China cross Chinese carriers, no matter where that router is, whether it's in Virginia or whether it's in Hong Kong, right? And so, evicting the racks and you know, the same thing keeps popping up in Hong Kong or in other parts of China.”

Chinese telecom subsidiaries operating in the US are administered from Hong Kong and retain no records or logs in the United States, making lawful US process largely ineffective against them.

“These telecom subsidiaries in the US are running from Hong Kong. they're not retaining any records or logs, they don't have any of that information here.”

Schwab charges $100 per trade for Hong Kong-listed stocks, a significant friction cost for retail investors seeking international equity exposure.

“Schwab will charge you $100 for every trade you made in making Hong Kong, right?”