China Esquire

Well, it’s what I had expected.  Now that the media battle is over, let’s get focused on getting back to work.  I truly hope that Barack Obama ends up being a more positive figure to China and China/foreign trade now that he can stop talking tough for his constituents, and also, be a little more realistic about our nations’ mutual need for one another in a global economy.

Even CNN ran an article a few weeks back (had it sitting in my inbox) entitled “ Why the U.S. Needs China“:

China’s economy is not going to grind to a halt. But even a marginal slowdown could hurt large U.S. firms. Many of them have been able to offset sluggish growth in the United States with sales to China and other developing markets.

And it’s not certain that China’s economy will continue to keep expanding at such a rapid pace in the next few years if this credit crunch continues to persist for much longer.

There is already some evidence to suggest that the two nations may need to work together to avert more global economic pain.

When the Fed announced a coordinated interest rate cut on Oct. 8 with banks in Europe and Canada, China’s central bank also lowered interest rates that day.

The Fed’s announcement didn’t mention the Chinese rate cut and China’s central bank didn’t acknowledge the rate cuts in the United States and Europe. But does anyone honestly think that the United States and China coincidentally decided on the same day to lower interest rates?

Make no mistake. The two countries clearly realize they need each other and that economic hardship suffered by the other is not good for either. China may not have the exact problems that the U.S. does but its third-quarter GDP slowdown is definitely a sign that the credit crunch is hitting China as well.

Mr. Obama, I hope one of your people is listening.

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