One of China’s largest state-owned train makers is angling for a piece of the U.S. administration’s pro-growth infrastructure investment plans.
CRRC Chairman Liu Hualong told CNBC in an exclusive interview Tuesday that he hoped the rail car maker would continue contributing to development in the U.S. through investments and job creation.
“Since the company entered the U.S., we brought benefits such as employment; we provide almost 400 jobs,” Liu said.
CRRC, which was formed by a merger between two state-owned enterprises — China CNR Corp. and CSR Corp. — has been rapidly expanding its presence Stateside by winning contracts in major states.
In 2014, before the merger, CRRC won a bid to supply 284 subway trains to Boston for $567 million. The company also invested in a manufacturing facility in Springfield, Massachusetts.
In addition, the company won a $1.3 billion contract from the Chicago Transit Authority and is also eyeing contracts in other major cities, such as New York.
More recently, CRRC signed a contract with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority worth as much as $647 million. CRRC said it will invest in a new facility in the Los Angeles region to manufacture major components, including propulsion, heating and air conditioning.
When asked if he was concerned about the anti-China rhetoric coming from the White House, Liu said he hadn’t seen any impact on CRRC yet.
“No matter who is president, that person will want to maximize ways to develop the country,” he said. “We should share the fruits of that development.”
To be sure, in recent months, President Donald Trump reversed some of the harsh rhetoric he used on the campaign trail. For example, he told the Wall Street Journal in April he would not label the world’s second-largest economy a currency manipulator in a report.
Trump also met Chinese President Xi Jinping in the same month and said an “outstanding” relationship was developing, and that “goodwill and friendship were formed, but only time will tell on trade.”
Liu explained the U.S. is lucrative for CRRC because it has the biggest railway network in the world.
It is also a competitive, high-end market, which could bring CRRC industry recognition and an opportunity to improve its business and better compete, according to the chairman.
“Within the industry, people only see you as a high-end market play if you are in the U.S.,” he said.
Source: CNBC
