Another important post from underpaidgenius:
“Our trade relationship has to be fair. You can’t just sell to us and we can’t sell to you. […] And so we have been bringing more actions against China before the World Trade Organization. We are going to enforce our trade laws much more effectively than we have in the past. […] I’m pro-trade. I just want to make sure that it is fair for American businesses and for American workers.”—
Obama — and the US — starts erecting trade barriers to protect US business, and slow the trade imbalance with China.
Let’s not quibble about whether these are new barriers or just old ones finally being enforced: the shift in policy is clear.
via Reuters
The shift in policy is definitely clear, but I don’t think it’s going to be enough. Forget protecting US businesses—we need the US workers to be protected. Outsourcing needs to be banned (if a job *can* be done here, it MUST be) and international corporations should have a minimum number of employees inside the US before they should be allowed to have overseas offices/facilities if they make above a certain amount of money.
Damn right, it’s protectionist! Compared to not protecting the American worker at all, I think a little protectionism is just what our economy ordered! And don’t tell me this won’t create jobs.
It’s not enough that China buy our stuff—it’s that we have stuff to sell, which we really don’t.
