Where do you stand?

Should America place punitive tariffs on China if it continues to maintain an artificially weak currency?

Voting on this question is now closed.Total votes 1591
45% voted for Yes and 55% voted for No
45% Yes
55% No
Voting opened on Oct 5th 2010 and closed on Oct 12th 2010

Readers' comments


Farmer Rut

USA should place tariffs on China, Canada, Mexico, any third world country tha has a trade imbalance. Often US based business are working in an enviromnent where their own government regulates them out of business, while the socialist countries above not only are easier on their business for regulatatory burdens, they also give their business subsidies. The playing field is not equal, it is stacked against the USA.


This is the propaganda of Obama of bashing China. If trade inbalance is a real concern, the solution is simple: just reduce substantially the imports from China. Why can't Obama do it? It will hurt the consumers of American and therefore the votes. It is all economics and not politics disguised as economics.

Mike Rudd

To argue that any premium put onto goods sourced from China would just move production to another low cost producer is a nonsense, there is nothing wrong with being a low cost producer so long as that low cost is not brought about by currency (or any other)manipulation.


Making demands of the Chinese Government is almost always counter-productive. It is clear that raising costs of Chinese goods shipped to America only moves the markets to other low cost producing countries. I would suggest quietly working with China to get China to purchase goods from America on an annual basis within a range of the amount of Chinese sales to America. I guess the Chinese would be amenable if America would open it's markets to include more technical goods. These are old gnawed bones. China wants stability more than anything else. Big changes simply are not allowed. China's bet is that in the end America will not do anything rash. I think China is correct.


The Chinese leadership are always concerned about the Billion plus people inside china first. They are afraid of the social unrest that may result if the economy slows. They will not do anything differently if the US just keeps talking. The leadership is quite practical and will do the right thing if the US shows that it is serious. A punitive tariff would do the trick.

The Linguist

Firstly, all central bankers must draw up a code of conduct. Then we need to set up a supranational organization to put on trial senior officers of the respective central banks if they are in breach of the code of conduct, defraud their own people or the world at large, causing irreparable harm. Professional conduct includes: not cause bubbles, not condone banking malpractice.... Greenspan and Bernanke should be the first to be put on trial, followed by Xouxiaochuan and the like.


The game has its rules. China must accept and obey the rules of the free trade, if it wants to be a player in the global economy. Otherwise, no matter how big its economy is, global community should not let it manipulate the marktes in any way. That's it. I can not accept importing low priced Chinese goods manufactured by people totally underpaid and forced to work under dire conditions by state oppression.

tell truth

let remind some people here don't underestimate the atomic bomb effect of China dumping of US debt to US & world economy. US interest rate will be go up tremendously over night. US stock market will sink like a stone. Many more Americans will not able to hold on their houses. US real estate market will decline even more. More US banks will collapse. credit crunch will certainly follow. US unemployment will push up. Chinese will also suffer huge loss of their huge us investment. ON ONE WILL WIN FROM THIS POSSIBLE TRADE WAR. I feel sad that we don't learn any thing from last depression.


Not yet. However, a free market is not free if some members manipulate it (as the Chinese appear to be doing). Tariffs seem like they would cost more than they're worth, but I am not sure what can be done to appropriately punish market manipulation.

tell truth

Japanese was forced to appreciate their currency in 80. they still managed to keep their huge trading surplus trading with US. However rapid appreciation of Japanese Yen attracted huge sum of hot money into the country and created the greatest bubble of Japanese stock and real estate markets. We all know the outcome of Japan economical sink of last 2 decades. There is no way American workers can accept same wages as Chinese workers get in their country. those jobs will not go back to US even Chinese agree to appreciate their currency by 40% according to US demand. about 50% of China export are manufactured by factories set up by western countries. those jobs will go to those Asian countries with lower wages than China. US politicians are try to cheat their voters with hollow slogan of taking those loss jobs from China. I can certainly predict that US could not place punitive tariffs on China. we all know the result of the tariffs mean trade war which will immediately create unbearable damage to world financial markets. depression will truly follow. Chinese also have the ultimate weapon of dumping US debt. god bless America.


All U.S does is to point fingers whenever the economy tanks or lag, they should look inwards for improvements, instead of blaming or penalizing others. that would be counter productive to their cause. the china premier made a valid point, where by he mentioned that most of the jobs that china has taken up are low cost, labor intensive jobs. Even, if the currency is strengthen and firms flee, those jobs will most likely be passed on to another country with low labor cost, and not the U.S. That said, china's currency is really undervalued and something has to be done to twist their arm and get them to appreciate the currency's value. Before an all out currency wars take shape.


Ah well let´s see.

1. Do US-Americans want to have well paid jobs? Such as, for example, those that can be found in industry?

2. What would all these producers do, if Uncle Sam slapped in some tarifs? Would those smarmy sycophants not come scurrying back in an instant, if that was the only option of selling goods in the US?

3. In which market can you sell more stuff? The US market or the Chinese one?

On the downside 'insourcing' would logically increase the prices of goods (as wages, neccessarily, would be higher in the US). At the end of the day, however, would you not be eager to pay more for your shirt/computer/ipod/dizmo and have a job...rather than being swamped by cheap consumer goods and at the same time desperately trying to get even that crappy, stinking, lameass job at Walmart?

I beseech you all...open your eyes to the truth: We in the West have been EFFED by our governments & corporations for at least 30 years.
Freetrade & Globalization benefited the moneyed elite (who outsourced to cheap labour countries and thus maximized their profits). For everybody else in the West it´s been an utter and complete disaster.

Our wealth is evaporating...and has been for all that time. The criminals in charge have tried to camouflage this terrible dynamic by creating arcane 'wealth bubbles' / consumption sprees such as the newage dotcom bubble and later the housing bubble.

We are losing the 'Trade Peace' so a trade war....is our only option.

Mike Rudd

The Fact that China buy’s and holds a huge amount of US bonds should not be a factor in this discussion, as it is in their interest for the US currency to hold up and any dumping of the $ would hurt the dumper far more than the US, in that any $’s held after the initial sell of would be of far less value, while the devaluation would do wonders for the US exports

Mike Rudd

Currency manipulation can have a huge distorting effect on any and all countries involved in trade with the currency manipulator (in this case China), it reduces the chance to compete in the manufacturing sector by under pricing, the best way to reduce this is to place an import duty equal to or slightly higher than the price advantage gained, This has the benefit of an extra income for the treasury which should be considerable .


The Feds' problem is the bonds China hold, bonds that'll mature in a couple of years, tariffs have nothing to do with what the US already owes China, and besides, tariffs will mean no more new bond purchases from China, and at this point the Feds are still interested in selling new ones. That's why they are alot more interested in getting China to appreciate than doing anything on trade, they want to both be able to cheat their way out of paying existing debt and still want to take on new ones. China is not even close to dumb enough to let that happen.

Som 03

Punitive tariffs will provide no face lift to the US$ or its current a/c, rather, the added burden would be shared by both Chinese companies and US consumers, as selling price would be adjusted (increased) accordingly. Finally, it will make deeper cuts into the Americans' pocket, on the back of 9.5% jobless claims.


If letting the RMB revluated could brings some of the lost jobs back to America, then I'll go for it. But looking back in retrospect what happened in the past three decades, we pointed finger at the Japanese in 80s along with some of the newly industrialized states such as Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and now China for the economic problems. Who would be the next? if we successully get China do what we want so that import from China diminished. There'll be another Japan, China.... if globalization is what we believe in and push so hard to preach in this planet.
Every coin has two sids as much as all things come with two effects - bad and good, positive and negative. In the past two decades the whole world enjoys inexpensive goods made in China, many multinational corporations enjoy sweet rewards by sourcing out to China, India, ....It's all out of the best business concerns, no one has been coerced into making such decisions.
Punishing China by placing tariffs on Made-in-China would only lead to more made-in-somewhere-else-other-America seen again in the American markets. When someone gets stronger the American need be more stronger so as to retain our edges.


I think we are putting the cart before the horse.The question should be-should american companies be allowed to make things in china and sell products to Americans at a thousand times the cost price.

From what i have heard half of the 50,000 american companies in china make goods for export.Are we not supposed to be able to control those american companies and make them move their production home instead of meddling in a foreign country's affairs.Especially as most advance countries have some sort of artificially valued currencies as well(think of the fact that many countries use pounds and dollars to do their business thereby allowing us to spend a lot more than we should because our currency remains valuable as a result of high demand).

Lastly,most of the major export oriented countries do the same,why this obsession with China.



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