AOL is reporting today that tainted Chinese candy has reached store shelves in 2 US states. Last week it was milk, though that probably didn’t get here. Previously it was lead toys and before that pet food. Not to mention that they bootleg items they get from us and have horrible working conditions. (I thought Communism was supposed to be a workers’ paradise, but you know something’s wrong when a union overthrows the system like Solidarity did in Poland, but I digress!) When is it going to occur to our leadership that maybe we should cut off trade altogether, at least for awhile. I can’t imagine that we really need them more than they need us. Don’t even get me started about their human rights record, which nobody in ages has seemed to want to link with trade. I feel rather alone in this view, but I’m still upset that China was never penalized by the international community for the stunt they pulled in Tiannamen Square in 1989, and that they still deny was a big deal. Am I completely out of line here or does anyone else believe that trade with China ought to be more closely scrutinized and Most Favored Nation status revoked?
In all seriousness though, I think we could set up more regulations w/o revoking MFN status.
I distinctly remember signs in their stores several years ago saying, “We buy American whenever we can so you can too!” I’m not against foreign trade. In fact I am in principle a free-trader IF we can make it work. Some basic standards shouldn’t be too much to ask though.
He was content to be rich, not super-insane rich.
Why, to keep our standard of living, of course.
Somebody has to be deleteriously underpaid to make the crap we want at the prices we want.
Somebody has to work in ergonomically and environmentally dangerous conditions to keep our costs low.
Somebody has to accept environmental hazards that come with manufacturing on the cheap.
Somebody has to work in a place where standing up for labor rights gets you decades in prison without a trial.
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p>That’s why we trade with China.
if we returned all of those newly prosperous Chinese to grinding poverty and famine.
n/t
…I fear there is a lot of truth in what you say. When I was in high school I participated in Model Congress on a few different occasions. I submitted legislation prohibiting outright the importation of goods that were products of child labor. Granted it was a simulation exercise, but I still think it’s a good idea.
Maybe we trade with China because they are the biggest fucking market in the world.
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p>Just a thought.
Even if we were to go with straight self-interest, you can’t justify putting our own people at risk of their health.
The strong majority of Chinese can’t afford most of the things we sell. The actual market in the US is still bigger.
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p>And in a few decades, chances are good the actual market — and potential market — in India will be bigger than that in China.