US-China schizophrenia
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While Americans are passing a stupid forced labor law in Xinjiang that is a trumped-up myth by American propaganda, we have a delicious number that shows Sino-American schizophrenia. 30% is the increase in bilateral trade between China and the United States in 2021. This trade reached more than 682 billion dollars between January and November 2021.
That is to say that while America is screaming like a skunk against the Chinese, screaming that it wants to reindustrialize its country, that it screams that it is back, reality shows that America has worsened its dependence on China. And this trend is not going to change in the coming months.
In fact, the trade between the two countries is superior to that of China towards all the ASEAN countries which is however its closest and more strategic partner whether it is with respect to the RCEP or the New Silk Roads. This strong American demand is at the root of the backlog where container ships crowd into American ports and understaffing creates bottlenecks, in turn causing shortages.
There are several reasons for this schizophrenia. The first is that Biden is falling short of Trump’s ankle. Trump was fighting China as a single bloc. He faced him by looking straight in the eye with taxes that applied to all products. Biden is content with a devious method, using stupid human rights, so-called genocides, to sanction a small region so as not to show the world that America consumes more Chinese than any country.
Then America had the worst handling of the covid crisis. The many attempts at compulsory vaccination have caused people to quit their jobs. Additionally, the fact that the government sent a check during lockdowns convinced them to stay home. It is also explained by the stagnation of the wages of hard workers and an exponential increase in inequality. Why go to work for $ 18 an hour (which is already high compared to the minimum wage) when you have the same amount through social assistance?
Antiwork is also gaining ground where Americans prefer to stack odd jobs rather than spending all day working like crazy. This antiworkism will also pose problems for Biden’s plan to rebuild America. Reconstruction involves painful and repetitive tasks with poverty wages.
This American voracity for Chinese products makes the whole world pay. The price of sea freight, containers has skyrocketed and the situation will remain tense until the end of 2022. And in 2022, you are going to have a midterm election that risks to be a historic and dramatic loss for the Democrats.
In short, in the papers and in front of the world, America says it can fight China, but in reality, without the Chinese, Americans would starve.
