Originally Posted by mike
What idcruiserman means by, "Their products are worth more to us than our money. I don't see the problem." is that in capitalistic free-trade, the buyer and seller determine the value of the exchange willingly.
In other words, if USA consumers are willing to trade their dollars for Chinese goods, it is a fair deal. Nobody is forcing them to do it. The USA trade deficit with China is a result of free-market conditions.
Of course, what we are experiencing isn't really free-market conditions with the USA dollar being over-valued and the Chinese RMB currency being officially undervalued by the Chinese government. Still, with these artificial factors being thrown into the mix, the flow of currency and goods is done by the free-choices of the producer (China) and the consumer (USA).
Thanks for the clarification. And I agree, but the gist of the article was that even with our Exports to China going up in the latest period, we still had a larger-than-expected trade deficit, due primarily to Oil Imports. Cycling is one way that Americans can bring down the deficit. Others as mentioned - car pooling, mass transit, walking, and smaller more fuel-efficient vehicles.