U.S., China professionals host supply chain meeting in Rogers
by May 15, 2024 1:06 pm 378 views
Supply chain professionals from the U.S. and China gathered in Rogers recently for a two-day meeting to discuss supply chain issues. The meeting was part of an initiative to improve relations between China and the U.S.
John Kent, clinical professor for the J.B. Hunt Transport Department of Supply Chain Management in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, has been working on a project to improve relations between the United States and China through the supply chain.
Kent, who traveled to China multiple times annually while working on a food safety project, did not return to China until November amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Kent said the food safety work has morphed into the Global Supply Chain Diplomacy Initiative, a project he’s been working on for more than two years.
Recently, Kent and other supply chain professionals from China and the United States gathered in Rogers for a two-day meeting as part of the initiative. Kent, who’s also a senior fellow for the George H.W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations, said the meeting was based on ping-pong diplomacy. It marked one of the first public signs of improved relations between the United States and China in the early 1970s.
“We patterned this after that … symbolic, diplomatic event and substituted talking about supply chain instead of playing ping pong,” Kent said. “We still have thousands of containers every day going between our countries, so this is an attempt to have a … diplomatic dialogue to get along, cooperate, and still try to solve problems and make things efficient. Part of inflation right now is still because of tariffs … the inefficiencies and the lack of trust that’s in a relationship.”
The meeting was hosted April 16-17 at the Supply Chain Hall of Fame in Pinnacle Hills and comprised academic and supply chain professionals, including six from China and eight from the United States. Kent said meeting takeaways included identifying Little Rock Zoo as a potential site to accept pandas from China and allowing Arkansas farmers to export agricultural products to China using hydraulic loaders that turn containers upright for more efficient loading. Kent expects these meetings to take place semiannually, with the next one planned this fall in China.