I think the issue is more complex than that but certainly vested interests / national interest is definitely one aspect of things.
The west and the US specifically has operated on an open market policy partly as a result of two world wars we got dragged into in relatively short order. Economic integration was thought to reduce the likelihood of another great war.
However what we have currently is a relatively developed economy (China) using currency manipulation and protective policies to prop up their own economy long after it has passed out of the "developing" phase. Plus massive and ongoing state investment and debt deferral. China effectively subsidizes massive amounts of economic activity that makes any US or EU tax breaks / protective policies look like chump change.
When you have such a large market participant behaving that way it is little wonder that people lose their faith in free markets and want to intervene. Including doing explicitly punitive things against China. It is an attitude of China's own making. After all... China will not allow you to buy a freakin' popsicle stand as a foreigner let alone a shipbuilding company or anything else.
China wants all the access to the rest of the world and wants everyone to buy their products... but they do not want to reciprocate.
>China wants all the access to the rest of the world and wants everyone to buy their products... but they do not want to reciprocate.
There's a history with the West where they have been manipulated and taken advantage of in a way that the US never has.
It's possible their desire to force companies into partnerships is genuinely based on a fear of that happening again.
You say that China wants everyone to buy their products. There's also the implication that this is bad for the US economically. However China wouldn't benefit if their customers are poor.
> There's a history with the West where they have been manipulated and taken advantage of in a way that the US never has.
That's definitely possible but I think the cause is much simpler: initially they wanted to bootstrap their own industries and now nothing forces them to do anything different so they just continue with hyper-protectionist policies.
On the side of the west: Outsourcing to China is the new group-think. The new "No one ever got fired for buying IBM" for the MBAs. A box of Bandaids now says "made in china" on it. Bandaids are churned out entirely by machine. Packed entirely by machine. Boxed entirely by machine. By the millions per day. Human labor input is more or less irrelevant. Why outsource that to China? Because that's the only thing management knows how to do and the only thing so-called investors understand. It certainly isn't to save money or make the product better.
> However China wouldn't benefit if their customers are poor.
If I had a nickel for every time a government or leader adopts bad policies despite the obvious future negative consequences I'd be the world's richest person.
I think you are overstating how much of manufacturing is automated. There's still a great deal of human labor involved.
>If I had a nickel for every time a government or leader adopts bad policies despite the obvious future negative consequences I'd be the world's richest person.
This is everyone. The voters are at fault as well because sometimes they support those that create short term wins over the long term.
For outsourcing politicians beliefs that the US workforce would become the white collar workers of the the world which is true would increase the quality of working life.
The west and the US specifically has operated on an open market policy partly as a result of two world wars we got dragged into in relatively short order. Economic integration was thought to reduce the likelihood of another great war.
However what we have currently is a relatively developed economy (China) using currency manipulation and protective policies to prop up their own economy long after it has passed out of the "developing" phase. Plus massive and ongoing state investment and debt deferral. China effectively subsidizes massive amounts of economic activity that makes any US or EU tax breaks / protective policies look like chump change.
When you have such a large market participant behaving that way it is little wonder that people lose their faith in free markets and want to intervene. Including doing explicitly punitive things against China. It is an attitude of China's own making. After all... China will not allow you to buy a freakin' popsicle stand as a foreigner let alone a shipbuilding company or anything else.
China wants all the access to the rest of the world and wants everyone to buy their products... but they do not want to reciprocate.