Let the Chinese produce inexpensive consumer goods for us. We benefit from it as much as they do.
We export know-how.
Ignore the anti free traders who think we’re being left in the dust. Free trade is a win-win.
This information is from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Post:
The World Trade Organization (WTO) today issued its World Trade Report 2010, an annual publication that offers definitive statistics on international trade. In recent months, media reports have widely described China as the world’s largest exporter, but today’s report indicates that the United States remained the world’s largest exporter of goods and services through 2009. China has indeed overtaken the United States and Germany to become the world’s largest exporter of merchandise.
| Exports in 2009, billions of U.S. dollars | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Merchandise | Commercial Services |
Total | |
| U.S. | 1,057 | 470 | 1,527 |
| Germany | 1,121 | 215 | 1,336 |
| China | 1,202 | 129 | 1,331 |
Source: WTO, World Trade Report 2010, pp 28-29.
Thanks to Cafe Hayek for this.
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Yeah, but there was a time, not too long ago, when we did both! Now, we’re like the coach who declares a winning season because his team only lost 49% of their games. A small “victory” for the USA to be proud of, to say the least!
Ted:
What is the economic impact of trade to our economy? It’s positive. It’s not a zero sum game as you seem to assume. There is a myth in America, probably spread by unions, that we are not exporters or that we can’t compete in the world economy. “We’re losing jobs to China.” That simply is not correct. Since the world’s markets have been prised open in the last 25 years, our share of manufacturing has declined, but so what? You can’t tell me that the economy has fallen backwards during that period or that unemployment has risen, except during periods of crisis, such as the present. In fact GDP and wealth has increased. Perhaps one could point to unions as artificially keeping wages high to drive out manufacturing. You seem to miss the obvious benefit of trade by falling to look at the other side of the balance sheet. What about the benefits to consumers of cheaper imported goods? It’s a big victory for the USA. Also you seem to demean the effect of knowledge workers and their value in the world economy. We all know that knowledge workers generally command higher wages than do manufacturing jobs. You need to ignore the “conventional wisdom” and look at the facts. Thanks for commenting.
Perhaps you might want to call the service department for any of the large computer companies these days. That accent you hear is not from the continental United States. Software programming, computer hardware manufacturing, help desks, are all moving offshore. So that service economy we traded our manufacturing economy for is going away soon as well.
Furthermore I certainly can tell you that the things have gotten worse…we have gotten more gadgets but that had everything to do with the residual knowledge of our great push forward from the 30′s…but now both husband and wife must work. There was a time when that was NOT required and folks lived well.
And I want to be sure that no one thinks I am protectionist…I am not. This sums up my feelings on the matter, from Mises Institute. We need to fix these items.
That being said, there are certainly some “unfair” forces at work against the manufacturing industry, and the federal government claims responsibility for most of them. The regulatory burden placed upon manufacturers leaves them at a severe disadvantage with the rest of the global playing field. Countries that don’t have the list of draconian environmental and workplace regulations, not to mention mandated benefits and compulsory unionization, reap the benefits of flexibility. Abating these onerous dictates would go a long way toward improving American manufacturers’ chances in the world economy.