Trade could spark conflict with China

outtheinside,

Thanks for the quick info about China's currency valuation- that and our ravenous consumption have certainly energized the Chinese manufacturing sector and provided needed wages for the millions who would be forever stuck in rural poverty. I'm not sure the Chinese care less about human rights than we do, given our incarceration statistics and recent history of torture, but I get your point.

GoodGodGuy,

Your illustration is stark and accurate, I'm afraid, and although those 5000 factories do provide much-needed income, the human cost is high in terms of working conditions, any hope for escaping poverty, and disruption of former community ties.

Another thing that sticks in the back of my mind as I read and type is the hideous specter of organ sales. The woman who shouted at the Chinese Premier and George W. Bush, protesting the killing of Falun Gong members for organ harvesting, disappeared from American media soon after, and I wonder what the truth is. Are the Chinese allowing the harvesting of organs from dissidents and those whose religious beliefs conflict with those of the State?

As the U.S. has slipped off its track of ethical and moral propriety (through the use of torture, rendition, and indefinite imprisonment without Habeas Corpus), China has tried to sweep under the carpet the sad and horrific state of its own treatment of cultural minorities and political prisoners.

All of these factors play in the background when an issue such as trade tariffs comes up, and it is impossible to address any one issue without determining how one will address the others. If I know a Chinese worker was condemned to low wages and intolerable working conditions, how can I purchase an electronic product made in China. How can I continue to trumpet my pride about being an American when our government has acquiesced in acts which are immoral?

I have to put my own personal feelings about Wall Mart into this Chinese situation. Really 5000 factories some of which are merely in small buildings but paying 15 cents and hour to mostly girls from 8 to 16 years old working 15 hour days.
Give me a break. China is employing it's people on the backs of Americans and Wall Mart is digging our grave.
If you shop at Wall Mart today, you will only be shopping at Wall Mart tomorrow.

thecoyote23,

Excellent points. Yes, China's competitiveness has been constructed upon the backs of low-wage workers, and, although their lot in life was getting materially better over the past few years, the underlying insecurity of basic human rights overshadowed the gains in their economy.

Our corporate leaders care as much for us as China's powerful care about their low-wage workers, and unionization in both countries would be one step to addressing the causes of workers' miseries. I fear that in either country, viable union movements would be met with military force, just as they were in the early 1900s. Unless and until conditions get so bad that people are willing to face down tanks for the right to a decent living, the situation will not improve.

China is the greatest threat to America by slowly undermining our economy. Our quality of life is slowly being eroded since our manufacturing base moves to "areas with lower labor costs", but these areas are places that use borderline slave labor and are frequently accused of human rights abuses. Its appalling that the right wing wants to blame "laziness" for people without jobs, and do not want to pay another single tax dollar to help American people, when it is their economic policies (Reaganomics/MiltonFriedmanism) that allowed our business to move overseas is the first place. The first thing they will do is blame unions, but unions are there to make sure that the American workplace doesnt turn into the type of conditions that are common in China. The reason why we have so much unemployment is because there are very few labor/manufacturing jobs left in the US that pay a wage that allows you to sustain a family. I do not believe that every American should be required to have a college degree in order to find a job that can support their family with a degree of dignity, but those jobs are becoming more and more rare. The United States needs to figure out how to rebuild a manufacturing base and tax the hell out of companies that move their interests overseas so it is no longer profitable to exploit impoverished people. All and all, if a major war does break out, we are screwed because we can't even assemble a single fighter jet without any imports.

The only true value of an economy is the value of labor. When you take a raw material and labor to make something there in lies the true value of labor. For far to long labor has been taking it in the shorts.

If the US does not use some protectionist measures, it will surely loose what little manufacturing it still has. Steel is dumped by Japan on the US with no seemly reason yet their import tax on US autos is over 50 percent. We are THE consumer nation and should use our buying power to force equal trading policies with the rest of the world.

Screw China !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look up "conflict" in the dictionary. It does not necessarily include "war," a word you used but which I did not. Trade conflict is serious enough.

I love the totally overblown title. Ya, China is totally going to war with the US over a 35% tariff on their tire exports. That is totally worth a possibly thermonuclear WW3. China's just talking tough because they know they now have major international clout; however, the simple fact is that China's and the US' economies have become so intertwined in the last 2 decades that a war would simply decimate both sides. So no, I don't see any chance of "Trade Sparking Conflict with China" at any point in the near future.

Great response. Yes, the mechanisms for tariffs were in place, and the both countries were aware of the situation. I would like to see the U.S. rejuvenate itself in the manufacturing realm, but protectionist measures alone will not suffice.

In the U.S. there seems to be a bias among many well-educated people against working with one's hands, and many seem to have lost the perception of the material and psychological worth of manual and skilled labor. Craftsmanship, engineering, invention, design: all these led the way when the U.S. economy grew in the past.

I hope that young people who now find themselves unemployed will rediscover the noble path of building and manufacturing. These crafts and trades help a society prosper and define itself, and the U.S. needs to redefine itself.

China joined the WTO with a provision that allows U.S. businesses to seek temporary protection from the surge in Chinese products. Looking at the numbers, there is obviously an enormous surge in low-grade tires, the only type of tires affected, over the last 5 years. Tariffs should only be imposed for temporary time periods and solely for the reason that domestic industries get a chance to catch up and compete with outside competition. The domestic businesses know the deadline for competing and how much cheaper the price needs to be. The tariff is in accord with the WTO laws and economic theory. If they can't compete in three years time, then it's time to close shop. I think it was a good decision to decrease and still impose the tariff, but I'm slightly doubtful the U.S. market will be able to adjust. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.