“The Chinese subsidize exports. The Chinese engage in the wholesale theft of intellectual property – theft allegedly worth a hundred billion dollars per year.”
Let’s unpack that, shall we?
“The Chinese subsidize exports.” - If the Chinese government wishes to impoverish its citizens with punitive tax rates and give away at less value the goods they produced to Americans who then get to pay less, I recommend even more of that. Impoverish the Chinese! Transfer wealth to America! Please, do more of this.
“The Chinese engage in the wholesale theft of intellectual property – theft allegedly worth a hundred billion dollars per year.” - There is no part of “theft” that is “fair trade”. I’m okay with bombing the factories that steal our intellectual property.
Were there any other arguments of note?
We don't pay less, that is an illusion. The difference in costs due to labor being dirt cheap is not passed on the the consumer. It goes to the bottom line and the stock holders.
There is only three ways for a nation to create wealth: Agriculture, mining and manufacturing.
Importing, transporting and retailing do not create any wealth. These are value added services, the wealth was created were the goods were manufactured. This is just wealth transfer from the USA to the country that made the product. This is a good recipe for the USA to become a third world nation.
So you don’t care if Boeing closes plants in America and builds their planes in China?
The Chinese have exchanged manufactured goods for a large part of our industrial base. And the Chinese people are far more prosperous than they were when it started. So when does this impoverishing part kick in?