China’s choreographed trade expo more ‘theater’ than deal clincher

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – German car maker Volkswagen AG signed what looked like a meaty deal with one of its China joint ventures this week at a huge new trade show in Shanghai to ship almost $9 billion worth of cars and parts to China next year. But it turns out the “Memorandum of Cooperation”, one of hundreds of deals inked at the China International Import Expo that wraps up on Saturday, represents business as usual for VW. Two sources close to the company and its FAW-Volkswagen tie-up said the joint venture would have imported the cars and parts with or without the expo to support its day-to-day manufacturing and sales operations, as it does every year. FAW-Volkswagen did not have an immediate comment. Read more here