Robert Samuelson writes in Newsweek:
It's a sign of the times that well-known economist Fred Bergsten, an avowed free-trader, thinks the United States should threaten to impose a 50 percent surcharge on imports from China. He's not alone. In April the Senate voted 67 to 33 for a proposal from Democrat Charles Schumer of New York and Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to adopt a 27.5 percent surcharge. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, created by Congress in 2000, also urges a surcharge. The point of these proposals is not actually to impose the duties. It is to persuade—intimidate , really—China to raise the value of its currency, the yuan, by 25 percent or more.
To read more:
Comments