Protectionism cannot save US auto industry

Updated: 2012-03-20 16:53

(peopledaily.com.cn)

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Last weekend, nearly 200 members of the US congress sent a letter to President Barack Obama, accusing that China's auto parts policies have resulted in an "unfair competitive advantage".

They also demanded the US government to protect the US auto industry and job opportunities with existing laws. They asked the newly established cross-sectoral trade law enforcement agency to take China's auto parts as the main attack targets.

The US government has recently been working well with the Congress on trade issues with China. They first established the cross-sectoral trade law enforcement agency dealing with emerging economies like China and then modified the countervailing duty law in order to levy punitive taxes on China and other countries.

These actions showed America's fretfulness amid its sluggish economy in the electoral year. Most of the 200 Congress members are from the Democratic Party and are related to the US auto industry. In the eyes of some US politicians, it is nothing but a political show to attribute the high unemployment rate and other economic problems to China.

After coming into power, the Obama administration had injected massive funds into the auto industry at the brink of bankruptcy. The US auto industry has come to a crucial moment of reforming to survive. The only wise way is to improve the competitiveness through reform. What the successful US companies around the world rely on is strong competitiveness. Therefore, trade protectionism cannot save the US auto industry.

The pattern of current auto parts industry is the result of economic globalization brought about by the development of international industrial restructuring and the most extensive international cooperation. It meets the demand of the US market to import cheap and fine auto parts and is beneficial for the US consumers. It is in favor of alleviating the inflation and is the necessary complement to the US economic development and industrial restructuring.

In addition, the increasingly close economic and trade relations between the United States and China have brought a large number of job opportunities and tangible benefits for the United States. Wanxiang Group, China's largest auto parts enterprise, has established nearly 30 projects in the United States, providing about 5,000 job opportunities.

The further development of the economic globalization will again make a balance of interests, in which, there are competition, cooperation and even mutual benefits. Whatever strong economic strength it has, the United States cannot control all industries by trade protectionism. That is to say, without the economic development of China and other developing countries, there will not be the sustainable development for the developed countries and economic globalization.

Over the years, the United States had improved their actual spending power and living standards and enhanced the economy by importing a large number of cheap and fine products from China. To safeguard the Sino-US economic and trade cooperation is beneficial and win-win for U.S. and China and is in line with the fundamental interest of the American people. To interfere with the Sino-US economic and trade cooperation for political reasons will harm the common interests both peoples.

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