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I agree. I do think he bears some blame. I will say that even though he opened the doors to trade, it wasn’t him that actually pushed the policies to induce corporations to do what they have done.

Congress and future presidents implemented policies that saw us move every bit of business that we could China’s way.

I will also add in, for many years we were the ONLY NATION on planet earth running trade deficits with China. Europe wasn’t short sighted enough to hollow out their economies in this manner. We blazed new trails here.

Some trade with China to keep it on track with opening up to the West was reasoned. What we did was give them everything without them having to lift their little finger to reciprocate.

Did China have to promise to play nice internationally? No. Did it have to promise to treat it’s people better? No. Ten years after Tiananmen Square, and we treated China like it had been a sterling fellow of the highest standing. It wasn’t.

There were very small tariffs on merchandise coming out of China, and an effective 40% tariff on merchandise going in due to currency manipulation on China’s part.

Worst of all, China demanded full patent access to any manufacturing process on their soil, and our corporations agreed and gave away the farm.

We gifted China with five to six decades worth of technical advancements developed under our Western Free Enterprise Capitalist system. Had China had to develop those advancements on their own, they’d still be three or four decades behind us. Instead, China now has the fastest computer on the planet. In some ways China has actually surpassed the West.

Now it’s tossing it’s weight around, and it has reason to think it can get away with it. All this because greedy folks and crooked politicians sold their souls out for a buck. Capitalism is just like sex. When it’s incorporated into our lives an a wholesome manner, it’s wonderful. When it isn’t, it can become a nightmare.

Welcome to our nightmare.