Tuesday, January 11, 2005

How Many Jobs Has the US Lost to China in Last Two Decades?

I'm usually distrustful of "studies" like this (preferring instead the wisdom of crowds), but they provide a useful point of departure for debate. That "the report puts a large portion of the blame for the growing U.S. trade deficit with China on that country's 'refusal to revalue its exchange rate'" is an unsurprising conclusion for the Economic Policy Institute for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, an extremely anti-China group that probably should never have seen the light of day (through appointment by Congress, no less). But what about the questions the report raises about free trade? And what does it suggest we do to reverse the trade imbalance -- sell them some ANWR oil, perhaps?

Do the Chinese have a study showing how many jobs they've gained from the US? I'd like to see that.