sunnsea

Protectionism in China - Something to Worry About

Edward: Your article is the typical American naivety on international trade that dominants the airwaves. All countries EXCEPT the US are and have been protectionist because they rightly want to protect their respective countries against foreign imports that threaten their domestic industries. "Buy Chinese" is nothing new. It only is a further codifcation of what the reality on the ground. China never lowered its tariffs on imported products. But it is not only China. The EU countries place a 20% VAT on all import goods into the zone. This is not called a "tariff" but it is a tax on imports. Their domestic producers do not pay VAT on exported products, so when BMW sells a 300 series over here they only pay 2% maybe even 0% to the US plus get a 20% VAT exemption.
And of course we stupidly abandoned "Buy America" in the stimulus under Republican and Blue-dog pressure, who are on the payrolls of the foreign lobbyists via campaign contributions. In a perfect, non-protectionist world, none of these things would be needed. But only here do we suffer under some romantic vision that that world does exist when it does not. Not one other country shares this romanctic illusion, not one!
By imposing tariffs or new "taxes" on imports, we would only be redressing the grave imbalances that have helped destroy America's manufacturing base, not compounding a global recession.