There’s plenty of bickering going on in the media over what some are characterizing as President Trump’s “trade war” with China and those more favorably disposed to the president are calling “negotiations”. Rather than dig into all the complaining, I’ll put the issue on the floor. How should our issues with China be resolved?
My preference would be for China to live up to all of the obligations it undertook to gain membership to the World Trade Organization, make its currency convertible, privatize its state-owned enterprises, eliminate its export subsidies and import quotas, stop engaging in hacking and piracy of the intellectual property and trade secrets of American companies, and generally liberalize its trade with us. I don’t think it can actually do any of those things and anything less should be unacceptable to us. I also think that the Chinese authorities see trade as warfare by other means—a zero sum game in which they win and we lose.
And that touches only on the trade issues and not the geopolitical ones.
How should our trade issues with China be resolved?
In general, I would put more effort towards not rewarding US companies that take their business to China or do business with China. We could pursue action within the WTO but I expect delaying tactics and lack of transparency.
Steve
I kinda liked Ronald Reagan’s remark when asked about our contest with the USSR: “We win, they lose”. Sounds a bit orangey.
Reciprocity is a good place to start when it comes to trade.
You close your markets; I close mine.
You open your markets; I open mine.
Given the media and the elite’s reactions to Trump’s comparatively mild moves to date I don’t think they’re ready for reciprocity. You steal my stuff I steal yours? You poison my animals I poison yours?