I gotta tell ya, if you think for a minute that trade (“free” or unilateral) is somehow, on net, bad for the U.S., you have another think coming…
Just consider these two headlines from CNBC.com this morning:
1: “HP, Dell Watch China Labor Costs for Apple”... Last week Foxconn (they assemble all three’s products) raised worker pay 16-25%… The third increase since 2010…
“If Foxconn’s labor costs go up, their product cost to us will go up”, says HP Chief Meg Whitman… “Then we have to decide how much do we pass on to our customers versus how much cost do we absorb.”
Now imagine how much you’d pay for an Apple, Dell or HP product if they had to pay U.S. labor costs… And imagine what that would do to U.S. labor in the U.S. industries currently benefiting from your discretionary income…
2: “Chinese Court Says Apple Can Sell iPads in Shanghai”… Rejecting a request by a Chinese technology firm that the sale of Apple’s iPads be halted across the affluent Chinese city (a battle over the iPad trademark in China)…
Wow! Who would have thought that a Chinese court would rule in favor of a U.S. company – over a Chinese company?
In Thomas Friedman’s fascinating book The World is Flat, he claims that no two countries, after having opened McDonald’s restaurants, have ever gone to war with one another… I.e., if you want to make peace with other countries, introduce them to capitalism…