As President Trump talked about reviving \u00ab\u00a0dying industries,\u00a0\u00bb China said it plans to ax 500,000 coal and steel jobs this year.<\/b>
\u00ab\u00a0Dying industries will come roaring back to life,\u00a0\u00bb he declared on Tuesday night.
As he was speaking, a top official thousands of miles away in Beijing was detailing China’s plans to cut half a million jobs in heavy industries this year.
That’s on top of 726,000 jobs that were axed in the coal and steel industries last year, said Yin Weimin, the country’s minister for human resources.
Related: Trump is (still) spoiling for a trade war
It’s all part of a plan announced a year ago to shed 1.8 million coal and steel jobs over a period of years as China tries to reduce excess capacity in industries dominated by bloated and inefficient state-owned enterprises.
The government is spending billions of dollars to help redeploy workers who are affected, Yin said.
In stark contrast, Trump reckons America needs more steel and coal.
In his address, he touted a directive that new American pipelines must be made with American steel and the removal of a regulation that he claimed threatened \u00ab\u00a0the future and livelihoods of our great coal miners. \u00a0\u00bb
But the big job cuts in China highlight the challenges that the coal and steel industries face worldwide.
China has been accused of selling unwanted steel on global markets for less than it costs to produce and export, throttling rivals from other countries. The U. S. and the European Union have repeatedly complained about the issue, slapping heavy tariffs on Chinese steel products.
Related: Wilbur Ross calls China ‘the most protectionist country’
Despite the huge numbers of layoffs cited by the government, analysts say it’s unclear how deep the cuts really go.
Chinese firms are shedding jobs but they appear \u00ab\u00a0reluctant to shutter idle coal mines and steel mills and write them off,\u00a0\u00bb analysts at Capital Economics wrote in a report published Wednesday.
\u00ab\u00a0China is still a long way from resolving its surplus capacity woes,\u00a0\u00bb wrote Chang Liu and Julian Evans-Pritchard.
Related: Is Trump backing off his China threats?
China is trying to shift its slowing economy away from a traditional reliance on manufacturing and state-directed investment in infrastructure.
A key challenge is overhauling inefficient state-owned companies, many of which are heavily in debt and hoover up a disproportionate share of financing from banks. That deprives private businesses of the funds they need to grow.
\u00ab\u00a0Policymakers continue to drag their feet on reform due to fears that deep capacity cuts would cause a rise in layoffs and an immediate economic downturn,\u00a0\u00bb the Capital Economics report said. \u00ab\u00a0But unless officials act soon, the economy’s sustainable growth rate could more than halve in the years ahead. \u00a0\u00bb
Related: Why coal jobs aren’t coming back, despite Trump’s actions
Trump, meanwhile, wants to go in the other direction, telling U. S. coal miners on the campaign trail they will be \u00ab\u00a0working your asses off\u00a0\u00bb under his presidency.
But analysts and even a top coal industry executive have warned him he’s promising the impossible.
\u00ab\u00a0The coal jobs aren’t coming back,\u00a0\u00bb said James Van Nostrand, director of the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development at West Virginia University College of Law. He said in January that \u00ab\u00a0market forces\u00a0\u00bb rather than regulation are pummeling the industry.
— Serenitie Wang contributed to this article.<\/p>\n