Barack Obama: I would stop the import of all toys from China.

I remember in 1992 that Singapore had a problem with its mass rapid transit system. the MRT there is wonderful. But delinquent youths had taken to sticking their chewing gum on the sensors that made the doors close. That threw the schedules. The solution: ban gum. Shortly thereafter the senior President Bush visited Singapore; his entourage of 100-plus staffers, aids and officials were searched in customs and had their gum confiscated as contraband. Singapore was a laughingstock at the time to the outside world. But the country is not a place that notices much about what the outside world thinks...




A simple, straightforward ban on Chinese toys strikes me as the same sort of solution: let's hunt rabbits with an elephant gun.

I read recently one blogger's opinion that "Made in China" was "the most ubiquitous signature in the world. The problem is this: it may be made in China, by workers who are Chinese; but the company that is making it is owner partly by a foreign company. There's a good chance that company is American owned. About half of China's exports have a foreign stake at the moment. What that means is that banning simply the import of this or that Chinese product is my be a blow to Beijing, but it is probably also a blow to London, Berlin, or to Wall Street right here in America.

A post at Marvin's 2nd World asks some pregnant questions: "Does he have any idea of how this would hurt Americans? Does he have any idea of how many American businesses would be closed by this? Does he have any idea of how many Americans would become unemployed by this? He has no clue."

By Obama's own admission, he's talking about banning 80% of all imported toys. And some 87% of toys sold in America are imported. That means giving your kid a lump of coal for Christmas, if Chinese toys are just banned completely. The idea makes Obama sound "naïve and irresponsible...

To be fair, Obama went on and talked about a better inspection process for Chinese products. "We have the power right now to set up our own inspection systems in China," said Obama, according to Reuters. "The Japanese do this on food, they basically say to China, you cannot import food unless you meet our safety inspectors. They sent Japanese inspectors to China, set up the testing system, and oversee and make sure that every single bite of food that is sent into from China has been tested," he said.

The bottom line though is this: China trade is not a simple "us and them" issue. The companies making toys in Shanghai and Shenzhen for export to America send their profits to New York and are parts of joint ventures that have stockholders in the suburbs of Chicago, Boston, and Topeka.

China Trade 101: We may see our trade with China as a case of they sell it and we buy it. But the simple truth is that it's not that simple...