China-bashing Chuck

The Washington Post’s Sebastian Mallaby (3/6) has a warning about the next target of American protectionists: President Hu Jintao of China. Hu is coming to the U.S. in April.

To get ready for the visit, Sen. Chuck Schumer, whom Mallaby calls “one of the chief brewers of the Dubai storm,” is pushing a bill that will impose a 27.5% tariff on all Chinese goods unless China revalues its currency. His bill can’t become law, but it can identify the Democrats with strong, nativist sentiment against a country that is running a massive trade surplus with us, supposedly taking away American jobs (think WalMart), challenging American scientific supremacy, violating human rights, and is building the world’s most powerful military challenge to the U.S. Did you really think Schumer would let Hu’s visit go well?

Too bad. There is no way China will cave like Dubai is doing in the face of Schumer’s demagoguery. China needs a devalued currency to protect its agricultural sector. Farmers are losing out to the coastal cities in China, are restless, and pose a political problem for Hu. He isn’t going to revalue China’s currency in a way that makes foreign food products cheaper for coastal Chinese than food produced in China’s interior.

Schumer could care less.