US trade with China in a post-global world

Barry C Lynn looks at the easing of America’s trading relationship with China in the 1990s and the present dilemma for the US in managing its dependence and weaker status.

AMERICA’S failure in recent years to keep careful watch over what goods are made where — especially when it comes to such vital items as electronics and drugs — means the US now depends far more on China than vice versa.

Back in the 1990s, advocates of liberalising US trade with China said economic interdependence would inevitably lead to peaceful co-existence. But one-sided dependencies invite adventurism, as China’s growing belligerence today proves.