Tuesday 17 February 2009

How bad is it when ....

even China can put the boot in over your protectionist policies. This from Greg Mankiw's blog:
The AP reports:

Measures in a $789 billion U.S. stimulus package that favor American goods are a "poison" that will hurt efforts solve the financial crisis, an editorial by China's official news agency said. Provisions in the U.S. stimulus bill approved Friday favoring American steel, iron and manufactured goods for government projects are protectionist measures that could trigger trade disputes, said the editorial....

U.S. labor groups that pushed hard for inclusion of the measures have argued that their main purpose is to ensure that U.S. Treasury dollars are used to the fullest extent to support domestic job creation.

China has promised to avoid "Buy China" protectionist measures in its own multibillion-dollar stimulus effort, and appealed to other governments to support free trade....

3 comments:

Richard McGrath said...

Well done China! Never thought I would see the day when the defence of free markets was taken up by a communist country.

Unknown said...

I agree with Richard. But that is very, very weird.

Anonymous said...

There is no defense for a "free market" as is currently being practiced by the USA and other countries. It is an abomination and should be corrected by any means available. The best plan would be to levy a tariff that would achieve balance on a per-capita basis. This will offset the lowered consumption by the over crowded nations and minimize the subsidy the USA currently pays for payroll in them.