Peter Zantal is in charge of globalization at the Port of New York. His hands are more than full. Every week, 24 ships disgorge thousands of containers, most of them arriving from Hong Kong and Shanghai via the Panama Canal. Their cargos are unloaded within 18 hours. Cellphones, refrigerators and computers – all made in China – begin the final leg of their journey to America’s shelves. “The traffic’s getting heavier by the week,” Zantal says.
In some ways he is pleased by the development; in others, he finds it troubling. For one thing, half of the containers head back to China empty, and the contents of the other half are hardly designed to boost American confidence: They are filled with waste paper. The Chinese recycle it into packaging – for more cellphones, refrigerators and computers destined for New York.
High tech vs. recycled paper. There is no more vivid illustration of the trade imbalance between China and the United States. More and more products are being churned out in the low-cost factories of this new Asian economic wonder, causing more and more jobs to be lost in the U.S.
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