The Bogus Corporate Counteroffensive Defending China

by

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is out with an 88-page report, which has gotten respectful attention in the media, pointing out that “full decoupling” of the U.S. from China would cost gazillions of U.S. jobs and extensive corporate income in industries that run the gamut from aircraft to medical devices to semiconductors.

The argument is a textbook case of the rhetorical device known as the “straw man.” Nobody is proposing a “full decoupling” in which the U.S. breaks off all economic links.

What the U.S. is belatedly conducting, thanks to the Biden administration, is a full strategic review of the U.S.-China relationship. Where have we let supply chains become too dependent on Beijing? Where are China’s economic policies predatory? Where do we need industrial policies of our own, both to recapture important industries lost to China’s mercantilist policies, and to target emerging ones?

Obviously, we can and should reset the terms of U.S.-China commerce and America’s own domestic policies without breaking all links. The members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are not exactly disinterested parties, nor do they come to this debate with clean hands.

American companies that produce in China for re-export to the U.S. profit by taking advantage of China’s near slave labor and filthy environmental conditions, both of which would be illegal in the U.S. Other U.S. companies that share critical technology as part of carrot-and-stick commercial deals with Chinese “partners” are selling out America’s technical patrimony.

It’s also rather incautious of the report to mention the threat to semiconductors, of all industries. American manufacturers are now suffering a shortage of semiconductors, because this is an epic case of a sector that we allowed excessively to migrate offshore.

The Chamber’s report is useful in one unintended respect. It’s a vivid reminder of why American governments have been so slow to reassess our China relationship. The U.S. as a nation may be getting screwed, but powerful U.S. corporations are getting rich.

A second Trump administration will cement a right-wing majority on the Supreme Court for a generation, and put our collective future in the hands of someone who will be virtually unchecked by our institutions. The country has shifted rightward, and the reverberations will ensue for potentially the next few decades. In this climate, a robust independent media ecosystem will be more important than ever. We're committed to bringing you the latest news on how Trump's agenda will actually affect the American people, shining a light on the stories corporate media overlooks and keeping the public informed about how power really works in this country.

Quality journalism is expensive to produce, and we don't have corporate backers to rely on to fund what we do. Everything we do is thanks to our incredible community of readers, who chip in a few dollars at a time to make our work possible. Any amount you give today will help us continue reporting on what matters to our democracy.

You can help power this newsroom by making a one-time donation or by becoming a member today.