Huff Post: by Peter S. Goodman.
Inevitably and regrettably, China has landed in the middle of the American presidential campaign. Both candidates are now laying claim to credentials as the ultimate guardian against the supposed job-killing, prosperity-destroying juggernaut across the Pacific.
This is inevitable because China’s rise and its implications for global commerce are never far from any conversation about lost American jobs and diminishing middle-class opportunities. It is regrettable, because — as both candidates know well — “getting tough on China,” as the tiresome mantra goes, will accomplish little if anything in terms of restoring vigor to a chronically weak American economy.
Rather, by indulging in political theatrics that cast China as the evil empire, the candidates are distracting us from the much more fruitful pursuit of figuring out what we can we do here at home, using our considerable know-how, resources and entrepreneurial savvy, to make American companies both more competitive and more prodigious sources of quality paychecks.