China says U.S. policy, not its currency, to blame for economic woes

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

BEIJING — The view from Washington, as seen by proponents of the China currency sanctions bill, seems clear: China’s government keeps its currency artificially low. That keeps manufacturing here cheap, which in turn makes Chinese products less expensive. American companies cannot compete. Americans lose jobs.

But the view from China — taken from official comments, newspaper opinion pieces and interviews with economists — is often diametrically opposed.

And furthermore, this view holds, Americans should stop blaming China for America’s financial mess.

“It’s crystal clear that labeling China as a ‘currency manipulator’ is just a cheap excuse for some in Washington to launch a protectionist war,” the official state-run news agency, Xinhua, wrote in an editorial this week. “It is also unfair and unwise to make China a scapegoat for the economic problems of America’s own making. The United States has to look inward to revive its economic growth.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/china-says-us-policy-not-its-currency-to-blame-for-economic-woes/2011/10/06/gIQAFHPyPL_singlePage.html

[jimmydwight]

1. What if we banned all chinese imports? Would we have

a surge in manufacturing and job growth? (happy days are here again).

[cstanleytech]

2. You mean imports like say Dysprosium?

[Indydem]

4. Jesus

I've never heard of that stuff before.

It sounds like the most important element in the history of mankind.

Why in the hell do the Chinese produce 99% of it?

[cstanleytech]

5. Because they have a larger deposit of it is why.

[Tempest]

3. No, we wouldn't.

First, we're not China's biggest market anymore. There's no incentive for the U.S. companies to repatriate factories back to the U.S. They would just move them to other developing nations we're not in dispute with.

Second, banning Chinese imports would violate several WTO provisions. Like many times before, the U.S. would come out losers.