深评：亚马逊禁止销售口罩，中国供应商遭受重大打击

中文版戳：美国人都买不到口罩了，亚马逊为何还要下架中国卖家的货？

A protester wearing a protective mask is seen at Amazon buliding during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Staten Island borough of New York City.US.March 30.2020.(Photo:REUTERS/ Jeenah Moon)

American cross-border e-commerce giants, including Amazon and Newegg, withdrew all protective equipment sold by Chinese vendors from sale on March 24th because of price-gouging.

"Medium and small sized Chinese merchants have already been in difficulties since Amazon announced to close down their warehouses on March 17th," said Xin Wang, the president of Shenzhen Cross-border E-commerce Association. "The new decision is fatal to them."

Amazon has been vigilantly preventing speculators from forcing up price of scarcities such as sanitizers and masks, but this time they should do their own calculation instead of complying with complaining customers.

People who claimed that Chinese sellers raised the price of a mask to over 350 times higher than that sold by Walmart should notice that the situation has been changing with the outbreak of the pandemic. Masks have been out of stock for a long time. In New York, the state where has the peak caseload, even frontline staff cannot get enough surgical masks.

Even set demand and supply theory aside, the prime cost of a mask sold in the United States has been higher than before. Purchase price has been tripled to 15 Yuan (around $2.14) each after the outbreak of the virus in China. Due to the pandemic, global logistics has nearly ground to halt. Air charter cost has soared up from $150,000 in January to over $800,000 in March. In addition, importers also have to cover tariff, service charge, administration fee, storage payment, domestic logistics and other payments, which take up over 30% of their incomes. Chinese merchants could only get $3.5 profit for selling a mask at price $35, whereas the platform could make $10 as profit.

Another contrast is mask's price on NEWEGG.COM. Customers pay $19.99 for a respiration mask produced by 3M company, but they also need to pay an extra $14.99 for shipping. The total cost for a single mask sold by Newegg is almost the same to that sold by Chinese sellers.

The interesting point is that, masks labelled as Newegg's own production were actually shipped back from China by two chartered planes. American e-commerce giants are busying with purchasing Chinese protective items while withdrawing existing goods sold by Chinese web retailors.

Simple facts and calculations prove that boycotting masks from Chinese sellers amid coronavirus is unwise for ordinary Americans.

Mask is not the only product that China can aid other countries. European countries have imported different kinds of protective equipment from China, including masks and ventilators, and they also accepted help by Chinese medical teams.

The United States now has the largest infected population in the world, even almost surpassed the total number in Italy and Spain. Several states have declared an emergency state after New York. A surge of pharmaceutical and medical equipment is desperately needed to save American lives.

President Donald Trump invoked Defense Production Act on March 27th to urge manufacturers including Ford and General Motors to "accept, perform, and prioritize federal contracts for ventilators," as Mr. Trump said.

Direction from the White House will boost production, but whether manufactures will be quick enough to catch up the soaring demand is still to be seen. The reasons that Mr. Trump refused to import equipment from China could be complex, but among them was a certain one - he wants to save not only people's lives, but also American manufacturing industry, which has been weakened in the past decades.

American government's expectation to rely on domestic produced prevention material amid coronavirus is unrealistic.

After over 30 years' globalization procedure, fine labor division has been formed. Countries which can launch spaceship are not necessarily able to produce masks.

Meltblown is the essential material in producing medical masks and respiration masks. There is no factory which still produces meltblown in the United States now, which means while American companies have sufficient production capacity at the moment, they still cannot make usable masks unless they import plants for producing meltblown first. Otherwise, they have to go through the R&D first, which is impossible because of the time limitation.

China is the only country which has the technic to merchandize meltblown plant. Trying to bypass Chinese products will impede the process of containing the disease, if not worsen the situation, in the United States.

Meltblown contains poisonous substance which can only degrade naturally after around 20 days. Even if American manufactures somehow get all the plants, materials and technics they need to produce masks, Americans will not have a chance to buy masks made in America until the end of April. The number of infected people will be unimaginable under current escalating rate.

International cooperation is necessary and critical. American elite envisage to take every industry back to the United States to "Make America Great Again", while they lack a practical plan. Empty slogan and fantasy will affect or even damage the interests of the majorities.

Adding trade barriers and rejecting Chinese products are internecine actions to both the United States and China. Giving Americans more access to coveted materials by lowering costs in circulation and increasing efficiency is the top priority. It is also a better way to win voters' heart than playing political tricks.

来源：BT财经