CORPORATE AMERICA TO BLAME FOR US TRADE, JOB WOES

Adriel Kasonta, former chairman of the Bow Group, the oldest conservative think tank in the United Kingdom, has lashed out at US President Donald Trump for making China a scapegoat for its own woeful policy errors, starting with globalism championed by corporate America.

In his article “Corporate America, not China, linked to jobs loss” published by Asia Times on June 20, 2020, Kasonta said Trump’s America First policy has been targeting China since 2016. “The Trump regime’s claim is that because of unfair practices China has a trade surplus with the US of nearly $400 billion. It is apparent that the so-called trade war with China perfectly serves to fire up the Make American Great Again campaign,” he adds.

He said China is not the ogre Trump portrays it to be. “In my humble opinion the simple answer is no. I believe that the trade deficit between the US and China is caused by some of the major American companies offshoring production to the latter, which according to the logic of the market is motivated by cheaper labor. When the offshoring company brings its products back to the US, they count as import. In other words, the US deficit with China is a result of the offshoring practices of the former’s companies, not other way around,” he argues.

Kasonta concludes: “Without a doubt, globalization was of great benefit to China and did great harm to the US because it destroyed the American middle class by shipping high-value-added, high-productivity jobs abroad… This stopped growth in US income. It’s why many who should be in well-paid manufacturing jobs with good pensions and health care find themselves in part-time positions stocking store shelves with no medical care or pension.”