She was defending doing business with China. Her position was “we should compete”.
I am saying, the entire groundwork is set-up to favor challenges of America, by foreign competitors, and China is doing the exact opposite. Gobbling up America interests.
She is part of the problem, in my view.
20 years ago, we had a productive relationship with China.
Now it is completely counter-productive, and needs to be completely reversed.
Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Mine is more in line with hers I guess.
If we went to (financial) war with China we would lose. We have to be smart, compete in a way that favors buying American products, and puts tariffs on the artificially cheap products from offshore.
Everyone likes to buy inexpensive products. For us to win those products would no longer be inexpensive regardless of where they were made. It would also piss a lot of people off.
Take S. Korea with their Kia and Hyundai cars. They are on par with Honda cars but much cheaper because SK subsidizes the cost we pay for them (for now). It isn’t just China. It’s every country that pays their people ridiculously low wages we could never survive on but in their economy they can. Peasant labor is pretty much the same as slave labor. We can’t compete with either without something like import tariffs to equalize the cost then the question is; where does all that tariff money go? I don’t trust the politicians to do the right thing and balance the budget or pay down the debt. They would just want to spend it on pet projects.
So you see the problem is far more complex than simply competing with countries like China. We have to bring manufacturing back to America and make better quality products so when it says “Made in America” it will mean something really good again. I remember as a kid America had that reputation and other countries were willing to pay top dollar on the black market for our products like Levi Jeans. No more. Levi’s and just about all clothing is made in China or Pakistan now.
Then there’s the EPA always right there saying a company can’t do this or that. If a company can cleanly make products without fouling the water, land, or air then they should be left alone to do their thing. We are our own worst enemy sometimes. China doesn’t have that problem and neither do most poor or 3rd world countries. Their focus is on surviving and getting enough food to live and maybe a couple extra dollars for something nice if they can. We are spoiled. No doubt about it. A rising tide lifts all ships though but maybe not in other countries. A very complex issue indeed. Far more complex than my little mind can handle.