Everything I Know about Foreign Policy I Learned as a Kid

Exports from China, especially in clothing and other textiles, have dramatically increased to the U.S. in the five months following the death of the quota regime that had for decades governed and distorted the world's textile industry. The Bush Administration, seeking to molify domestic concerns over protectionism, has in recent weeks implemented “safeguard quotas” limiting the rise in imports to 7.5%, on seven categories of Chinese textiles, including trousers and shirts. Across the pond the (much-weakened) European Union plans similar restrictions on T-shirts and flax yarn.

China, citing such actions lack "legal grounding" and constitute “unreasonable” protectionism, announced on May 30th an immediate end to the export tariffs it introduced earlier this year (as a conciliatory measure) on 81 textile products to slow the surge in exports. Only ten days earlier the Chinese had said they would increase these taxes on 74 products, some by up to 400%.

While politicians dicker over the details, most of us are heading down to Walmart to take advantage of the everyday low prices. China´s low-cost manufacturing is one significant factor why we shop at Walmart. Where I grew up, we shopped at Barker´s, our low-cost department store before the advent of Walmart. Truth be told, we didn´t worry about jobs in manufacturing or textiles moving offshore - we could care less about where the products we bought were manufactured. We bought from the cheapest source because of the price, and I´ll wager the majority of American consumers do the same. After all, isn´t this what capitalism is all about?