Pet food produced in Canada, and made from mislabeled ingredients sourced in China, caused dozens of unfortunate deaths of dogs and cats in the US. Toothpaste made in China with dangerous ingredients caused a massive product recall in the US. And toy train sets made in China were recalled in the US because of paint containing lead.
In response, China went on the offensive, noting at least four American made products in the past weeks as being unsafe or not meeting Chinese safety standards.
How long will it take for the media and left wing mouthpieces to blame the Bush Administration and the FDA and FTC which they will claim do not adequately test food stuffs and other items being imported to and exported from our country? And when will they start blaming free trade for bringing bad products into our kitchens?
Let’s remember that American firms produce plenty of products which have their own recall problems in case you have not read about the recent situations with peanut butter, spinach, and GE dishwashers to name just a few. And unsafe imports are not limited to those coming from China.
The reality is that there have always been unhealthy and defective products and there always will be. Unfortunately the protectionists and unions in the US are again trying to make a political issue out of foreign manufactured goods. With the Democrats in charge in Washington, we will probably soon see a series of special hearings deploring our foreign trade agreements.
Soon we will again hear others parrot Ross Perot’s famous 1992 words about the “giant sucking sound” from foreign trade deals like the North American Free Trade Act which he claimed would shift our country’s prosperity to Mexico. If that was the case, how come one of the top imports from Mexico continues to be their citizens?
Or perhaps the Democrats will lead us down the path of another Smoot-Hartley act which imposed such high tariffs in the 1920’s on the import of foreign goods that our country’s economy went into a depression. The fact is that we need trade with China and other nations to meet our country’s need for affordable products and services.
I was taught several basic economic principles during my undergraduate studies which continue to guide my thoughts on trade policy. The first is that products and services should always be sourced from the country with the best “comparative advantage” for labor, raw materials, and manufacturing costs. The second is a concept known as “caveat emptor” which means buyer beware.
In other words, buy from the source with the best price but base that purchasing decision on quality as well. In the case of China, our retailers and their suppliers need to test the quality of imported products before releasing them into our retail distribution channels. We consumers certainly cannot be expected to do our own product testing so we should only buy from retailers whose suppliers we believe are doing that testing for us.
Lastly, does the government have a role in making sure our retailers and their suppliers provide safe goods to our economy? Yes it does and if the Bush administration has failed to do its job, it should be held accountable. But let’s not let politics overshadow the need for free and fair trade with the rest of the world.
