Arthur Wu would like to start a wholesale furniture business in the United States. He has contacts in the furniture production business in China and feels he can leverage these contacts to purchase inexpensive, high$-$quality furniture in China to sell in stores in the United States. He calls one of his contacts and after extensive negotiations, makes a deal: he will buy the Chinese furniture to sell wholesale in the United States to retail furniture businesses. What is the business relationship between Arthur and his Chinese contact?