Robert Samuelson writes about the problems he perceives in the U.S.-China trade relationship:
It sometimes seems that almost everything we buy comes from China: DVD players, computers, shoes, toys, socks. This is, of course, a myth. In 2006, imports from China totaled $288 billion, about 16 percent of all U.S. imports and equal to only 2 percent of America’s $13.2 trillion economic output (gross domestic product). Does that mean we don’t have a trade problem with China? Not exactly.
China is already the world’s third largest trading nation and seems destined to become the largest. On its present course, it threatens to wreck the entire post-World War II trading system. Constructed largely by the United States, that system has flourished because its benefits are widely shared. Since 1950, global trade has expanded by a factor of 25. By contrast, China’s trade is mercantilist: it’s designed to benefit China even if it harms its trading partners. [Full text]
