>Which begs the question-- the USA wanted PNTR, so this was not about US
>versus China interests, but about US and Chinese capitalist elites
>cooperating in trade policies at the expense of workers globally.
Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans will give AFL-CIO a China trade policy it wants (= not so much workers' rights for Chinese workers as protecting American jobs from Chinese workers). China is too big and important a market for them. Build a Third Party, or else you'll be beating a dead horse forever (China already got PNTR & joined WTO; and the US government will not be saying much about Chinese workers, Tibet, etc. as long as China doesn't get in the way of the "war on terrorism," I think).
In the end, though, protectionism (to which all this jawboning over China really boils down) is not likely to do much good to American workers (to say nothing of Chinese workers) as far as wages, job security, working conditions, etc. are concerned.
That said, it would be politically interesting if the US government kept cranking up tariffs as it recently had on steel imports. Perhaps, at this point, protectionism of US organized labor is an unintended boost for leftists here and elsewhere, as it will likely strain relations between the Empire and its allies. -- Yoshie
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