Opinion Biden needs allies to keep China and Russia in check. Here’s how to do it. - "Lacking the preoccupation with global security that comes with superpower status, other nations may not see in China the immediate threat to their interests that Washington does. ...
"But by offering the prospect of trade liberalization, the Biden team might change the allies’ calculus on the embargo. In a sign of how that carrot might transform the conversation, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has recently called for a strengthening of trade ties between the United States and Europe. The Biden administration should seize on the idea — and pursue a similar strategy in East Asia. ...
"The trouble is that, with a few exceptions, there is little appetite for freer trade among U.S. politicians. Trump turned the Republican Party in a protectionist direction. The Biden team, for its part, is led by policymakers who interpret Hillary Clinton’s 2016 defeat as a repudiation of globalization by swing-state voters. Following this logic, the administration has done the opposite of offering allies additional U.S. market access. It has combined its tough China strategy with an 'America First' industrial policy that features subsidies for domestic chip manufacturers and homegrown electric vehicles. ...
"This economic nationalism has infuriated allies, especially in Europe. ...
"But it needs to go for a bold choice — as bold, in its own way, as the decision to arm Ukraine or to deprive China of semiconductors. That choice consists of drawing a new distinction between China-centric globalization, which can be justly criticized for its impact on American workers, and other forms of free trade, which the United States should support. ...
"China’s extraordinary rise has affected Americans’ understanding of what trade entails. As well as being the world’s most populous nation, China has grown much faster than the other miracle economies of East Asia, and its growth has relied heavily on manufactured exports. In 1990, China’s merchandise exports accounted for just 1.8 percent of the world’s total. By 2020 the share had rocketed to 14.7 percent. This unprecedented transformation makes the globalization of the past 30 years anomalous. To condemn trade based on evidence from this period is to miss the reality that most experiences of globalization are far less traumatic. ...
"Whereas trade with China involved the near elimination of regionally concentrated industries, NAFTA has fostered beneficial specialization in the making of complex products such as cars and pharmaceuticals across borders. ...
"The innards of U.S. imports underscore this point. When the United States imports something from Mexico, U.S. workers share in the benefit. The average Mexican import — say, a car or a washing machine — is 40 percent U.S.-made, up from just 5 percent before NAFTA. For imports from Canada, likewise, the U.S. content share is 25 percent. In contrast, the average import from China is just 4 percent U.S.-made.
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