Barack Obama On China. Say It Ain't So . . . .Oh But It Is.
Posted by Dan on December 20, 2007
Barack Obama has called for a BAN on Chinese toy imports into the United States. My first thought upon hearing this was that there must have been some mistake. Now that I realize Mr. Obama actually said this, I am left merely to wonder whether Mr. Obama completely fails to understand world trade or if he is simply calling for this ban as the ultimate in political pandering.
Three months ago, in an interview with Forbes Magazine, I was quoted as saying, "China right now is the current bugaboo."
How right I was/am.
If I had any faith at all in America's politicians, I would be appalled.
It appears most of my fellow bloggers feel likewise.
Citizen Jane Politics Blog views it all with tongue firmly planted in cheek:
Perhaps appealing to the I-don’t-want-my-kids-eating-lead-in-their-toys portion of the electorate, Barack Obama has joined Joe Biden in calling for a complete ban on all toys from China until their safety can be determined. CJP would call for children to play only with sock puppets, but all the socks are made in China too.O'Regan's World rightly fears what a ban would do to the U.S. economy:
Mr. Obama's true colours shine through in his attempt to further destroy the US economy, though banning all toys from China will without a doubt prop up the US toy manufacturing industry, higher prices would ensure, and as China buys more goods and services from the USA, a trade embargo would have dire consequences if China also decided to stop all imports of American goods and services. It's kinda difficult for the American consumer to purchase US made toys if they are unemployed, due to massive US layoffs in the US over China stopping all US imports.The China Sourcing Blog rightly thinks the whole toy thing has gotten way out of hand, particularly when quality is improving:
If there is one product that has received way too much attention in 2007, it must be those millions of toys 'made in China,' a tainted few of which caused such an uproar this year. Those 'few,' whether blamed on the faults of foreign importers or on Chinese manufacturers, had a significant impact on global perceptions of the quality of Chinese products. Yet in the aftermath of the Mattel saga Chinese toys, food products and others have all been subjected to stricter quality controls, and have moreover been caught up in 2007 in the general drive for improved quality occurring in China. As reported in a previous posting, China's toy-making heartland in Guangdong province stated already by late November that global demand for its toys had rebounded from the recall dramas of earlier. In the end nothing much has changed, because with Chinese toys still cheap and their quality improving, demand for them will not abate.But not so for Barack Obama.
Raj over at Peking Duck Peking Duck, Raj puts it best by calling it unjust pandering:
Isn't this just pandering to (indeed increasing) consumer fears? I think politicians should seek to calm concerns rather than inflame them. China's safety standards aren't the best in the world, but I think that it is becoming a scapegoat for any manufactured item that develops a problem.* * * *
In some cases, though not necessarily a majority, the problems were caused by American companies giving flawed designs to the Chinese manufacturers. Though it's fair enough to insist on tougher inspections, to ban all Chinese toys for an undisclosed period of time would just result in a tit-for-tat response by Beijing. It's also grossly unjust given many Chinese companies care about the end-consumer and take all reasonable steps to make sure their products are in good condition.
2008Central.net questions the impact on the US economy and wonders why now:
I’ll have to find a better article to exam the statement in a larger context, but this position strikes me as … as … well pretty bad. I mean, given the current economic state, stopping the import of 80% of toys to the United States might present an economic problem for us. Moreover, I wonder how tough we can actually afford to be with China given their growing influence in the liquidity of our economy. No doubt, we need to get tougher with China. But, this is a very different statement than what Sen. Obama made at the NPR debate just a few weeks ago. I wonder what’s changed?China Venture News analogizes Obama's proposed ban to hunting "rabbits with an elephant gun" and rightly notes "China trade is not a simple 'us and them' issue"
The bottom line though is this: China trade is not a simple "us and them" issue. The companies making toys in Shanghai and Shenzhen for export to America send their profits to New York and are parts of joint ventures that have stockholders in the suburbs of Chicago, Boston, and Topeka.China Trade 101: We may see our trade with China as a case of they sell it and we buy it. But the simple truth is that it's not that simple...
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