My high school history teacher taught that when the Soviets walked out of the UN, just in time for the UN Security Council to approve the Korean War, it shot down the myth of the Soviet supermen who were just smarter than our dumbass elected leaders. (Admittedly, this would seem to be a low bar to beat.)
Now, I see something similar from China.
China to launch investigation that could result in higher tariffs on US autos
Let's review how dumb this move is:
1. In a global recession, you don't want to play around with free trade. Smoot-Hawley
2. China has a huge trade surplus. Is it smart to play tit-for-tat with the USA even if we were mean about some Chinese products? I mean, if you just won all the big hands, you can afford to fold a hand or two. America sells you 9,000 cars a year while you have forced the world's car makers to invest and transfer technology so China can make millions of cars domestically. You can deal with 9,000 foreign made cars.
3. Lead in Toys. Chinese Dry Wall. Melamine in Milk. Melamine in pet food. The Chinese trade image is not so hot. Maybe it would be a good time to lie low on this stuff?
4. 2 US automakers are now owned by our government. You basically just bitch slapped our government, not just two companies. You may want to pass our safety tests and eventually export to the USA - do you think our government is going to look on you favorably now?
5. Did I forget to mention that US car companies are also owned by their Unions who are very politically connected and anti-trade? Jesus, you are asking for China bashing.
6. You just bought Hummer. So now, we can't sell you some piddly 9,000 cars, but you sell everything you want to us, plus buy our companies to ship the tools and dies back to China most likely. Better pray that the news this week is not that Hummer production is moving to China.Unemployed people in America start getting uppity when they think that they are not getting a fair deal.
7. You keep holding your currency down artificially - which is very noticeable compared to say, the Euro. US lawmakers have threatened to add a tax to your exports that would add 30% to the price of your products. Don't tempt them.
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