China: Where to Start

If there is going to be a trade war with China, it has to start somewhere, and there are some obvious things that need to be addressed.  Steel and aluminum are being dumped, in spite of tariffs put on them, though deals with countries like Vietnam who are allowed to treat the metals with chemicals that should have been done before it left China, and reship it as if it was produced in their own country.  We can't be a stupid as we look on this totally transparent work-around the Chinese have been using.  It took a year to figure out that transshipping steel was happening, and another six months try to figure out what will be done about it.  So far, nothing.  The Commerce Department is supposed to be watching this kind of thing.

Second, there are several industries that China has developed by stealing the technology from the U.S and a few other countries.  Our businesses already know what those technologies are.  Solar panel electrical management comes to mind.  As I outlined in a long story in my first book, the Chinese stole that technology, put manufacturing of stolen goods into their own companies, then continue to drag out a court case filed by the original owner of the intellectual property.  In the meantime, they export that same technology to the rest of the world.  This is just one example.  Resins were an example I wrote about previously.  I would bring business leaders in to discuss what has been stolen and used to build competing industries - in a time period of the last 10 years - then levy tariffs on every one of those industries.

Third, counterfeits need to be confiscated and the selling of counterfeit goods curtailed.  We allow counterfeits to be sold as "generic" manufactured goods.  That needs to stop.

Fourth, stop the abuse of visa programs to bring Chinese nationals into the US to work in our Universities and tech companies.  They use these visa programs to bypass export controls on intellectual property and government secrets.  They become US nationals under some of them, and use their status to steal even more.  Why we allow these kind of arrangements is beyond comprehension.