You’re damn straight she is. Trump is right on this one, and I agree with him.

China dumps her surplus goods on our shores, at a loss; she extorts special deals and tech transfers from foreign companies seeking Chinese markets, but does not bend an inch in that respect when seeking to sell abroad. China also shamelessly steals American and other countries’ technological secrets by ignoring copyright and intellectual property laws. And China subsidizes many of her domestic industries and penalizes their foreign competition with tariffs when her own producers need a boost because they are uncompetitive. And of course, there is an enormous balance of trade deficit between PRC and USA–to their benefit. I don’t doubt that trade deals between China and America play a big role in establishing and maintaining these injustices.

But why has this situation materialized, a relationship so much in their benefit, not ours? No, it is not because we are stupid and they are evil. It is the result of capitalism, and democracy. We are a democracy, and democracies negotiate trade agreements using the input and influence from domestic power centers with their own agendas. Although the trade relationship between China and the US may be disastrous to US workers, and to a lesser extent, US consumers, it has been molded by US governments heavily influenced and lobbied by US business interests. By switching from manufacturing to distribution, marketing and finance, American business profits from the Chinese successes in trade. In other words, its not because THEY are evil and we are stupid. Maybe its because a few of us are just greedy and short-sighted.

Foreign goods are often cheaper than domestically produced ones, for a variety of reasons (but mostly because their labor and regulation is more business-friendly), but those goods are marketed here by American companies. Walmart sells Chinese goods, Nissan of America, Toyota of America, and Volkswagen of America sell Japanese and German cars, but those cars are sold in American showrooms and serviced in American shops and their parts manufacturers and even their assembly lines may be American-owned or controlled, or both. All these firms, and the people who work for them, will profit from the collapse of the US auto industry. OF COURSE they will do everything they can to help bring about that collapse, even though they may not even be consciously aware they are doing so. There are huge commercial interests in our country, employing millions of Americans that sell foreign goods and maneuver continuously to make this possible and easy. They are not evil, they are just trying to make an honest buck. But the results can be evil. And sometimes its hard to tell.

In short, if trade deals with foreign countries are unfair to American workers and consumers, they may still be very profitable to American businesses. American businesses lobby in Congress, American consumers and workers do not. And American cities and states offer tax breaks, incentives and right-to-work laws to foreign companies to open up factories here that will have access to dirt cheap American labor.

So let us never forget, the reason America suffers a balance of trade problem with China and other countries is because very often their products are cheaper and of higher quality than our own. China doesn’t put a gun to our heads and force us to buy their shit. We seem to think “free trade” is wonderful, but only when we are competing successfully and profiting mightily. When we can’t, we whine and throw tantrums. It isn’t always unfair trade deals that leads to loss of American jobs, very often its just the free market itself. Running the country “like a business” is what got us into this mess, it isn’t necessarily the solution. And putting a businessman in charge of the government doesn’t mean he will necessarily do what is right for the country.

Now it can be argued that sooner or later, foreign government interference and control in their economies will, in the long term, cause their economies to falter and fail. It wasn’t all that long ago when the paternalistic, mercantilistic Japanese were eating our lunch, now their economy is stagnating and ours is booming. No doubt this may happen to China in the future. Sooner or later, the market takes its toll. Whether we we can afford to wait (or not) for this to happen is a judgement call. And the question is, does Mr Trump have the judgement he needs to get us through this? Personally, I don’t think he has a clue, and if he does, I’m not convinced he’s going to consider us when he moves.