No New Trade Battle, Just Old Ones

Derek Scissors / June 24, 2009

The front page of the business section of the New York Times today notes recent Chinese state intervention in trade.  The Times is right to make this observation, if six… or eight… months late. But recent Chinese moves are neither new nor particularly important.

The intervention in trade is long-standing; recent steps are minor extensions of previous policy. The announcement that government departments must buy local goods and services whenever available is just a restatement, the third or fourth one, of existing practices. Unfortunately, it also follows on our own “Buy America” provisions — making official protest awkward (to say the least). (more…)