The buy/sell on US-China trade
Monday, July 12, 2010 at 12:03AM 
Bloomberg Businessweek story on how to move forward with China on trade.
The five ways?
#1) really crack down on the China trade a la Krugman;
#2) declare an emergency a la Nixon 1971;
#3) use the WTO on China big time;
#4) keep up the jaw-jaw-jaw on as many fronts as possible; and
#5) get our own house in order.
My sense? It will be a combination of all five in some measure.
What really attracted me to the piece was the weird chart above and realizing what a strangely low-tech trade we have with China--in terms of what's been growing the most over the last decade. We send beverages and tobacco, ag and livestock, waste and scrap and some basic industrial commodities. They send chemicals, computers and electronic products, paper and transportation equipment. Pretty basic really. I mean, when the growth is highlighted, what's the big difference our trade with China and Brazil's trade with China?
Reader Comments (1)
How to move forward on trade?
One suggestion that was noted: Declare an emergency a la Nixon 1971
There's a running theme here. In Bergsten: the imbalance threat is still there, TPMB said "I would expect more debates on ever-more ambitious rules."
The Nixon solution in 1971, and the Plaza Accord attempted to put sticking plaster over an unsustainable global economy - a structural matter that Toronto's Group of 20 showed little interest in addressing.
No doubt this disheartened Washington. Last week they decided to continue with what short-term relief was within their powers: for example big corporations will be encouraged to use their reserves of nearly $2 trillion to ease US unemployment.