Thread: Trading With the Elephant

Originally Posted by tomcat

Biden's new trade pact with Asia is only a small step forward, Bloomberg editors write. Even a successfully negotiated framework will not offer Indo-Pacific nations what they really want: a way to reduce their growing economic dependence on China. Instead of calling it a "rethink," the White House should view the pact the way other countries do: as a bridge back to real free-trade agreements.

Hardly a major re-thin or re-alignment required when it comes to the trade balance - most countries have a greater trade volume with Chin a than anyone else, but it is slowly changing on the manufacturing front. As an export entity China has always been this purported Shangri-La, the place to gain riches beyond your imagination . . . the population alone . . . blah blah blah. India has the same population and is by no means the Wunderkind of consumerism.

China's population may be large but doing business in/into the place is both fraught with pitfalls at every turn and it's become quite clear that population size alone doesn't determine a vast market . . . see Russia, Brazil, India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan etc...