China's growth boon for many Americans' everyday life
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-09-01 14:12

"I believe the welfare of the average American is raised by the economic growth of both nations, but especially by that of China," a US expert said regarding a controversy sparked by a failed Chinese bid to buy a US oil company.

"For China produces many labor-intensive goods, like toys and textiles, much more cheaply than they could be produced in America, " said Gary Becke, the 1992 Nobel prize winner for economic sciences, in a recent blog article on the controversy touched off by the failed bid of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to buy the Unocal Corp.

For Lisa Lorenz, 30, a saleswoman at a Sears department store in an affluent Los Angeles suburb, she did not know about the failed Chinese bid, which had recently caused concerns in Washington about its economical and political implications. But she knew that it was a must for her to deal with things from China every day.

"Nowadays Americans just could not live their lives without things from China," said Lorenz. "Things necessary for everyday's life, like shoes, clothes and toys for children, are mostly made in China."

Keeping the price lower by exploiting China's cheap workforce, labor-intensive items manufactured in China have been benefiting ordinary American consumers in the decades since the 1980s when US companies discovered the country as a lucrative outsourcing destination.

"US companies don't want to make it themselves, they want these products to be made in Chinese factories," said Lorenz, "No one here in the United States works as a shoemaker now, it is a result of globalization."

As US importers and consumers keep buying everything from Nike sneakers to wooden furniture to computers manufactured across the Pacific Ocean, China has become the United States' second biggest trading partner after surpassing Mexico in 2003, and would probably replace Canada as the largest supplier to the United States, US trade officials said.

Meanwhile, the ever-growing trade imbalance between the two countries, which stood at US$162 billion in 2004, has been generating anxiety among some Americans, especially those in Capitol Hill who have been pressuring the Bush administration to take restrictive steps against cheap manufactured goods from China.

And China's any further entry into the US economic landscape would certainly induce even stronger backfire, which was no more plainly seen than from CNOOC 's failed bid for the Unocal Corp, a US oil and gas company based in Los Angeles.

However, not all Americans saw a threat against their welfare and security in China's more active economic presence in their backyard.

Becke, who is a professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago, said Chinese ownership of American companies is no problem or threat to American interests.

Some US analysts said Chinese companies flush with cash and eager to get a foothold in the world's largest market are ready to build or buy US factories and companies, and their investments here could offer the potential to create thousands of jobs for Americans.

Haier, a famous Chinese home appliance maker, created 225 jobs in a South Carolina town when the company opened its first US refrigerator factory several years ago and promises to create even more.

Similarly, investments by a Chinese steel company in a closed-down iron mine in Minnesota have reportedly won praise from local residents and politicians.

Laiwu Steel Group became part owner of the United Taconite, a bankrupt mining firm, and turned over management of the mine to its American partner, Cleveland Cliffs. The Chinese investment, which has saved 400 jobs, has been welcomed by local officials and steelworkers union.

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