We both agree that Trump is a child. Having said that, China is a very big problem. The past Presidents have taken the approach of incrementalism with China, letting them cheat the system and believing the illusion that China was liberalizing over time and needed the help to get on its feet. Well, as any parent knows, you don't give a kid a trophy for cheating. It institutionalizes the cheating mindset. We need to tackle China head on and with economic force of will, and with our own plan for the future. Direct negotiations with China uncluttered with a the issues of a hundred other countries is far more effective. The way Trump is negotiating, through Twitter, is not only ineffective and ignores Chinese culture, but can actually be pretty counterproductive. However, I do believe Chinese economic predation is one of the most pressing economic issues we have and don't believe distractions like TPP are the best forum to tackle China through.
Think about it this way. When Huawei stole software from Cisco and started selling their own knock-offs, would it have done any good for Cisco to work with Huawei and the industry on standards for networking protocols? No. Who gives a shit about standards with Huawei when they are stealing your product. The only way to deal with that is to take them on directly, which is exactly what Cisco did, through the courts and through a focus on outcompeting them.
Similarly, you can't allow standards making frameworks like TPP to hide the fact that China is not playing by ANY rules and therefore is not likely to play by new rules that would come with TPP. If China's current cheating is not addressed, what is the point of new rules that they would likely ignore as well? |
