Thousands of dead pets, contaminated toothpaste, lead paint on toys, crap (literally) in seafood, etc.
We DO have standards, the FDA, USDA, CPSC, and others impose, officially or otherwise on American made goods.
Those government agencies which you decry are already the watchdogs of American manufacturing and provide the consumer with confidence that American-made products will be of a certain level of quality or the products will end up being pulled from the shelves.
That does not stop the presence to e. coli in ground beef, but doubtless cuts down on the incidence of contamination.
Not to mention the hordes of tort lawyer waiting in the wings which act as a 'nuclear' deterrent to any actionable negligence.
It comes down to a question of confidence in the quality of a product, which translates into marketability.
Start making crappy products here, labelled with "Made in USA" and selling them, and the quality associated with "Made in USA" will suffer--which means a loss of marketability of any product made here.
The economic benefits for the Chinese domestic industries of such a change in consumer confidence are obvious.
To finish stating the obvious, American industry would lose status in the domestic and the world marketplace, and thus products made in America would lose value in that same marketplace.
Whatever onus which falls on one product will fall on all, so the question is one of would you trust the marketability of your product to your competitors?
Would you trust someone to build and market your product under your name who is in competition for the international trade in such products?
That is what the Chinese owning and managing a manufacturing business in the United States and selling the products as "Made in USA" effectively does.
It opens up the whole of American manufacturing to being given a bad reputation by what amount to Chinese made products made here.
If you cannot see that, either the possibility of short term profits has blinded you to the concept or you do something I do not: You trust the people who have stated their intent to destroy this country.
Some other things the Chinese have done or are doing:
Chinese put a man in space, and showed the ability to destroy satellites at will.
Chinese developed credible ability to launch and deliver MIRV devices, thanks to deals with Clinton cronies.
Chinese saved billions in research by simply stealing NEST data on nuclear warhead designs.
Chinese began building a deep water navy, including missile subs (SSBN).
Corrupt politicians at the highest level were influenced by donations from the Chinese.
The list goes on far too long and to the highest levels to ever assume benevolence.
Placing restrictions on what can be sold to whom is neither a new idea, nor anti-American In fact, those same restrictions are used to enhance national security.
I guess the question is one of whether you recognize the concept of long term economic warfare?
Limitations on property, intellectual and real are already present--and often ignored by the Chinese.
If I were a Chinese National, I might not have much say in how things are run there, but I would back my country over another, and would do my part to conquer the round-eyed dogs.
You assume the Chinese are getting nothing but pollution and 'worthless money' from us, but theirs is a more patient long-ranged goal.
Chinese 'sellouts' open huge factories with govt money, pollute Chinese rivers, use Chinese energy and limited oil and natural resources like steel, and make ultra-low profit margins, keeping their workers at a subsistence wage.
What have they gained?
Infrastructure.
They have effectively become the world's center of manufacturing.
What we were during WWII, and are no longer.
Why would one grocery store sell items at a loss during a price war? For only one purpose. To take sales from another grocery store in order to drive them out of business. The prices will go up later if they are successful, bank on it.
Ask anyone who lives in a relatively small town what happened when Wal-Mart moved in. Stores less able to compete with WalMart's economy of scale and prices either suffered or went out of business because they did not have the resources to engage in a protracted price war.
The only difference is one of scale.
Rather than two grocery stores or some local Mercantile vs. WalMart fighting it out in a small town, we have whole nations' industries fighting it out in a global marketplace.
The Chinese make their own rules, and preceed with contempt for international environmental standards so they can do so more cheaply. They have an economy which whether by decree or otherwise can utilize poorly paid workers, the rules of which are set by their government.
When they can use our currency to purchase our means of production, or just enough of it to undermine confidence in the wuality and thus the value of our products in the world marketplace and devalue the rest of our means of production by association using those "worthless T-bills" and an inflated dollar, they will have accomplished the goal of putting the nail in the coffin of America's domestic economy.
It does not have to be every industry sector, it might be only the carpet which falls apart after two or three years, the shirt that frays after a few wearings, the tool that breaks under strain, or the gadget that only works half the time out of the blister pack.
The destruction of confidence in the origin of the product will ensure the lessening of demand for all other products of the same origin, to the competition's benefit. The ultimate devaluing of the product, manufacturing base (stock), and, on a national scale, economy.
They have the bulk of the world's supply of rare earth minerals, something new electronic components depend on, and they have vast untapped mineral wealth.
The utilization of those resources is hampered only by Government decree, not by Greenpeace or the Sierra Club (hence, they have pollution), and they have the sort of totalitarian government which will ensure the job gets done.
All that has its drawbacks, and I am definitely not extolling their system as virtuous, but despite my political beliefs, I can objectively note that their system can be very effective.
One does not have to be a student of Sun Tsu to understand that a nation's economy is the soft underbelly of its military might, the Achilles' Heel of a superpower. Without it, military might cannot be maintained, and the ability of the nation to engage in protracted conflict is undermined or removed.
Note, too, that while we think of a decade as long-term, the Chinese think of a Century.
American consumers may have been buying a lot of cheap Chinese goods, and the chinese have exploited that opportunity to build a manufacturing base while ours has diminished in the face of that competition.
But that may be undergoing a sea change, in that Americans are looking for the "Made in USA" label more often, whether it be on grocery items, or other goods.
You may assume a benign attempt on the part of the Chinese to exploit that sea change, but there remains the darker vulnerability to our nation's economy.
You may disagree, and that is your right, but I feel I would be remiss if I did not point out the inherent dangers in allowing the Chinese to purchase our manufacturing facillities and operate them here.
The Japanese and Taiwanese are our allies, dependent on our military hegemony to some extent for their national survival.
The Chinese are not, and have stated the goal of defeating us.
That FRiend, is a world of difference.
I am one who lives in a relatively small town and have seen what happens: Lower gas price, better selection, and the local hardware store carries other more specialized stuff, now, like plumbing parts and plate glass and other things that don't scale well at a walmart.
Ask the locals who are able to buy more to feed and clothe their family at walmarts in those little towns if they like walmarts....you sound like Barack Obama in your condescension.
This, incidentally, is an antitrust violation.