The reason for the question is the Washington Post headline that told readers that the growth of China's economy had slowed to a "crawl" in the first quarter. The "crawl" in China was a 6.1 percent annual growth rate. On a per capital basis this is a more rapid growth rate than Mexico has achieved in any year since NAFTA's passage. The Washington Post has repeated touted Mexico's fast growth in the post-NAFTA era, on one occasion even telling readers that Mexico's economy had quadrupled since 1988. Unfortunately, this growth figure was just a number that the Post's editorial board had invented to help make its case for NAFTA. The true growth figure was just 83 percent. Anyhow, it is worth noting that the growth rate that is describing as a crawl in reference to China is much better than its poster child Mexico has even managed to attain since the passage of NAFTA.
--Dean Baker