Joe McDonald

AP Business Writer
Latest in Home
White industrial CNC machining center with dark blue interior cavity and control panel
Mass-Production Internal Gear Grinding Machine Compatible with Large Internal Gears Up to 350 mm Outer Diameter
October 19, 2026
Row of electric vehicles charging at outdoor station with multiple chargers
Americans Want Electric Cars – They Just Can't Find Them
October 19, 2026
Two orange and silver robotic arms working together in a modern manufacturing facility with white structural elements and industrial equipment.
Siemens Cuts Engineering Effort by 85%, Time-to-Market by 40% at AI Pilot Plant
October 19, 2026
Modern FANUC Training Academy building with glass and tan facade, featuring yellow accent entrance and landscaping
Fanuc Opens Largest Automation Training Center in the U.S.
October 19, 2026
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More from Joe McDonald
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning gestures during a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, Wednesday, May 24, 2023.
Trade
China Defends Ban on U.S. Chipmaker Micron, Accuses Washington of 'Economic Coercion'
China banned Micron products from computers that handle sensitive information.
May 24, 2023
A sign marks the entrance of the Micron Technology automotive chip manufacturing plant on Feb. 11, 2022, in Manassas, Va.
Trade
China Tells Tech Manufacturers to Stop Using Micron Chips, Stepping Up Feud with U.S.
Micron products have "serious network security risks," the Cyberspace Administration of China said.
May 22, 2023
In this image made from video, former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) CEO, Morris Chang, speaks during a forum in Taipei, Taiwan, Thursday, March 16, 2023. U.S. government efforts to shift production of processor chips from Asia to the United States will double their cost and slow the spread of their use in phones, cars and other products, the billionaire founder of the global industry’s biggest manufacturer warned Thursday.
Supply Chain
Taiwan Chip Pioneer Warns U.S. Plans Will Boost Costs
Morris Chang of TSMC can't understand why Washington wants to move so much manufacturing from Asia.
March 16, 2023
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning speaks during a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, Friday, March 3, 2023.
Trade
China Accuses U.S. of Attacking Companies After Export Curbs
The United States is "fabricating excuses to suppress Chinese companies," said a foreign ministry spokeswoman.
March 3, 2023
A worker collects parts at SMC, a Japanese pneumatic engineering company factory in Beijing on Jan. 10, 2023. China's trade surplus swelled to a record $877.6 billion in 2022 as exports rose 7% despite weakening U.S. and European demand and anti-virus controls that temporarily shut down Shanghai and other industrial centers.
Trade
China's Trade Surplus Swells to $877.6B as Exports Grow
Despite weakening U.S. and European demand.
January 13, 2023
Workers line up to get tested for COVID-19 at the Foxconn factory in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Aug. 5, 2021. Employees at the world's biggest Apple iPhone factory have been beaten and detained in protests over contract disputes amid anti-virus controls, according to employees and videos posted on social media Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. Videos on Chinese social media that said they were filmed at the factory in the central city of Zhengzhou showed thousands of people in masks facing rows of police in white protective suits with plastic riot shields.
Labor
Foxconn Apologizes for Factory Pay Dispute
The issue, which triggered worker protests, was blamed on a "technical error."
November 28, 2022
In this photo taken from video footage and released by Hangpai Xingyang, people with suitcases and bags are seen leaving from a Foxconn compound in Zhengzhou in central China's Henan Province on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022.
Labor
Workers Walk Out of iPhone Factory, Highlighting Virus Woes
With 90 assembly lines, it is the main iPhone assembly site.
October 31, 2022
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a high-speed electric passenger train, customized for the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway (HSR) project, is loaded onto a vessel in Qingdao Port in eastern China's Shandong Province, Aug. 18, 2022. China reported Monday, Oct. 24, 2022 economic growth rises to 3.9% over a year ago in latest quarter, up from 0.4% in previous quarter.
Supply Chain
China's Exports Weaken in September, Imports up 0.3%
Exports to the United States shrank 11.6% from a year earlier.
October 24, 2022
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a worker sort coals at Qianyingzi coal mine in Suzhou, east China's Anhui Province, Oct. 20, 2021. China plans to boost coal production through 2025 to avoid a repeat of last year's power shortages, an official said Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. adding to setbacks in efforts to cut climate-changing carbon emissions from the biggest global source.
Energy
Official: China Mining More Coal but Increasing Wind, Solar
Ensuring an adequate power supply is especially sensitive after economic growth slid to 2.2% over a year earlier.
October 17, 2022
Ducey is to arrive in Taiwan on Tuesday for a visit focused on semiconductors, the critical chips used in everyday electronics that the island manufactures.
Laws & Regulations
Arizona Governor to Focus on Semiconductors in Taiwan Visit
Doug Ducey is on a mission to woo suppliers for the new $12B TSMC plant being built in his state.
August 30, 2022
A new tax credit for U.S. buyers of qualifying electric vehicles made in North America has ignited the specter of a trade war as a domestic imperative of the Biden administration and Democrats collides with the complex realities of globalization.
Trade
New Electric Vehicle Tax Credits Raise Talk of Trade War
Manufacturers in Europe and South Korea have threatened to lodge legal complaints with the WTO.
August 24, 2022
A dried riverbed is exposed after the water level dropped in the Yangtze River in Yunyang county in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022. Unusually high temperatures and a prolonged drought are affecting large swaths of China, reducing crop yields and drinking water supplies.
Energy
China Cuts Power to Factories, Homes as Reservoirs Fall
Makers of solar panels, cement and urea closed or reduced production after they were ordered to ration power.
August 17, 2022
PetroChina, China Life and China Petroleum & Chemical, widely known as Sinopec, said the shares affected were American depositary shares, or ADSs, that represent shares traded in Hong Kong.
Operations
Three Chinese Corporate Giants Leaving NY Stock Exchange
Two of the three are PetroChina Ltd. and Sinopec.
August 12, 2022
China has blocked imports of citrus and fish from Taiwan in retaliation for a visit to the self-ruled island by a top American lawmaker but avoided sanctions on Taiwanese processor chips for Chinese assemblers of smartphones and other electronics, a step that would send shockwaves through the global economy.
Supply Chain
China Blocks Some Taiwan Imports, Avoids Chip Disruptions
The move was in retaliation for a visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
August 3, 2022
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, workers transfer a half-assembled piano at a production factory of Parsons Music Corporation in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province, on Nov. 23, 2021. Chinese manufacturing’s recovery from anti-virus shutdowns faltered in July as activity sank, a survey showed Sunday, July 31, 2022, adding to pressure on the struggling economy in a politically sensitive year when President Xi Jinping is expected to try to extend his time in power.
Supply Chain
Chinese Factory Activity Sinks
Chinese manufacturing’s recovery from anti-virus shutdowns faltered.
August 1, 2022