Does America have anything to fear from China’s growing economic strength? The answer is a strong “Yes!” according to Peter Navarro, an economics professor who has made the film Death by China (based on his book by the same name). Navarro traces back many of America’s economic troubles to China’s joining the World Trade Organization in 2001. Since that time, he tells us, much of America’s manufacturing industry has either moved to China or been put out of business because of China’s illegally subsidized industries.
The film makes the case for paying more attention to our trade imbalance with China at a number of different levels. Throughout we are told that China has policies that make it nearly impossible for American companies to compete. China manipulates its currency in such a way that it provides a serious economic advantage to Chinese companies. China does not have to follow environmental or workers’ safety regulations. China allows slave labor to be used. If you need evidence of how pervasive Chinese products are, pick a store, any store (clothing, hardware, electronics, appliances), and look to see how many products are made in China.
The film is very careful to make it clear that no single political party is to blame for this situation. Democrats and Republicans alike have supported the policies that have led to this situation. As the film sketches out the history of China’s growth since joining the WTO, it demonstrates over and over that China is taking advantage of the free trade to take over much of the world’s manufacturing. In so doing, it has, according to the film, destroyed the manufacturing sector of the American economy.
Of course, it isn’t just politics that has led to this situation. Large multinational corporations have also been taking advantage of the economic advantages of making products in China. Many have outsourced what used to be American jobs to China in order to make products less expensively. And we can’t forget consumers. When we go to the store, we want things as cheap as we can get them. The film opens with consumers waiting in line for midnight openings for Black Friday sales. They want a big screen TV for a few hundred dollars. It cost so little because… it’s made in China.
While Navarro does a good job of making his case, I was left with many questions. For example, he doesn’t mention the steady decline in American manufacturing that was well under way for many years before China gained entry to the WTO. It also doesn’t mention any of the other economic troubles that have dragged down our economy, such as the banking and real estate bubbles of recent years. While it mentions some of the culpability of multinationals, it doesn’t really get into the way the corporations, through their political funding, have influenced the policies that have led to the situation.
The biggest lack of the film is specificity as to remedies. It calls on us to write to Congress, but never really tells us what we should be asking Congress to do. (Nor does it suggest how citizens can compete with the huge sums of money that corporations pour into the political process.) Should we boycott Chinese products? Is it even possible to boycott China given the omnipresence of Chinese goods? Without suggestions as to how to undo the conditions he shows us so well, the film comes across as alarmist, but little help otherwise.
Certainly, China should be a concern as we strive for better economic policies. Navarro needs to be heard for the alarm he sounds, but throughout I felt as though there was far more that needed to be brought into the conversation.
