Posted on 04/25/2018 2:29:09 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
There Is More to the Trade War than Trade
April 6, 2018
The clamor of timorous voices that have greeted the president’s “Trade War” with China makes one fear for the republic. Let’s do a quick recap:
China has extracted billions of dollars of intellectual property and confidential business information from U.S. companies. This has cost thousands of jobs and billions in lost revenue for the United States.
China imposes unfair restrictions on foreign companies that want to do business there, requiring them to become minority partners in joint ventures, transfer intellectual property, or in some instances, China blocks them from entry altogether. Chinese companies do not face similar constraints in the United States.
Contrary to its international commitments, China has used nontariff barriers and subsidies to build national champions and block foreign competition.
U.S. companies that want to do business in China have no alternative but to accept these restrictions. For many years this trade-off—access in exchange for intellectual property (IP)—seemed acceptable, and companies came up with various strategies to avoid loss. In the past few years, as China’s economy has matured, the cost of trading IP for access to China’s market has become unacceptable.
Since companies didn’t complain, the U.S. government did little or nothing in response to China’s policies. The 2015 Barack Obama–Xi Jinping agreement limiting commercial cyber espionage, while useful, does not address the main problem.
China is clear in what it wants, as it moves “closer than ever to the center of the global stage.” China is “more confident and able than ever to realize this goal,” which is to displace the United States in economic and technological leadership. China’s willingness to subsidize and restrict drives Western companies out of business.
(Excerpt) Read more at csis.org ...
P!
Good article. And this is why we shouldn’t settle for China lowering it’s tariffs and barriers at this point. Because the damage has already done and leveling the playing field will not reverse the damage. In fact leveling the playing field will not stop the hemorrhaging of US jobs because China’s wages are so low.
We actually need to raise import tariffs and leave them raised until US industries are rebuilt.
Good article. And this is why we shouldn’t settle for China lowering it’s tariffs and barriers at this point. Because the damage has already done and leveling the playing field will not reverse the damage. In fact leveling the playing field will not stop the hemorrhaging of US jobs because China’s wages are so low.
We actually need to raise import tariffs and leave them raised until US industries are rebuilt.
China is an enemy and not a friend. We need a uniform 20% across the board tariff NOW!
Tariffs are patriot candy.
There are far more important principles at stake in our relationship with China than the cost of consumer goods manufactured by them. My biggest worry for years now has been the grip that China has been acquiring over strategic materials and technologies that are crucial to our national defense. No short-sighted economic benefit is worth compromising our ability to defend ourselves in a confrontation, whether with China or someone else.
bmp
In before the free trade crowd!
100% agree.
We should’ve nuked Stalin in 1946.
Okay, but Russia isn’t much of a trade problem. It’s China.
But if you’re saying by nuking Stalin in 1946, Mao wouldn’t have come to power in 1949, you might have a good point.
As soon as I finish my time machine, we’ll go fix that.
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