[a_Username]

Originally Posted by fielderLS3

You have it 100% reversed. Demand for reciprocity is not protectionism, it is common sense.

Protectionism, IIRC, is protection from "unfair trade." Putting up tariffs and the like is (an attempt to) protecting yourself from these mythical threats. Also, if it is common sense, then you won't have any trouble refuting it. Or will you?

What is absurd at its core is to freely allow a known currency manipulator, copyright violator, patent office key thief, and counterfeiter to dump what are in many cases our own products on our shores, while putting up barriers preventing our products from be sold in their country.

Again, the Japanese have paid for their manipulation, hence the Lost Decade. Their citizens standard of livings is being reduced, while their manipulation is actually helping us more so than them. As explained below:

Originally Posted by Jonathan Catalan

China's central bank is not subsidizing the Chinese exporter but the American importer. Furthermore, ongoing inflation will only hurt both the Chinese consumer and the Chinese saver, as prices go up and savings are confiscated by depreciating their value. This is an economic fact whether the economy is growing or crashing.

How is it subsidizing us? The undervalued yuan allows us to buy more yuan with the same dollar.

This openness is what is killing jobs here, because with the Chinese import barriers, we are not paying for our imports with exports because we don't have exports. Our industries are being hurt and jobs being lost because we are sending dollars overseas that are not coming back, leaving us as the ones with fewer dollars which which to buy our own products and invest in our own businesses.

Why are you assuming the only two countries in the world that trade with each other is China and the United States? Assuming this "trade deficit" is bad, which it isn't, this still overlooks the fact that we have a "trade surplus" with other countries.

I must also question your knowledge of the exchange rate.

Originally Posted by Jonathan Catalan

Chinese goods are usually valued in yuan. The Chinese producer is interested in selling his goods only to make an income so that he may purchase either consumer or capital goods. Given that the producer lives in China, the only currency that is generally valuable to him is the yuan. An American, on the other hand, usually only holds dollars, because that is the most widely accepted unit of currency in the particular area he usually trades in. It thus becomes necessary for the American to buy yuan from someone interested in holding dollars, so that the American can turn around and use the yuan to buy the goods from the original Chinese producer. The price of the yuan in dollars, or vice versa, is known as an exchange rate. The dollar–yuan exchange rate is decided roughly by the supply and demand of either unit.

It does not necessarily follow that the average Chinese individual will then save dollars. The dollar, as previously established, is not particularly useful to the Chinese individual. In China, goods are sold and purchased in yuan. So, a dollar is only useful for buying American goods or buying corporate bonds and other types of private securities. In all cases, the dollar is returning to the United States.