Secretary of State Clinton and Secretary of Treasury Geithner co-authored a Wall Street Journal op-ed today on the Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) with China. The op-ed suits the Dialogue perfectly: it seems to be an important piece of work but there’s actually little to it. The two Secretaries tell …
Remember when China was going to stop buying American bonds and the world was going to end? This hand-wringing was always wrong-headed; perhaps now it will finally cease. In May, net official Chinese holdings of U.S. Treasuries jumped $38 billion. This is the flip side of the return of large-scale capital …
The front page of the business section of the New York Times today notes recent Chinese state intervention in trade. The Times is right to make this observation, if six… or eight… months late. But recent Chinese moves are neither new nor particularly important. The intervention in trade is long-standing; recent …
As rumored for several weeks, a Chinese company is buying at least one piece of General Motors. GM will sell its Hummer brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery for an as yet undisclosed sum, probably $200–$300 million. There are multiple dimensions to the proposed acquisition, covering both commerce and …
A group of individual investors with strong ties to Chinese companies wants to buy into the Cleveland Cavaliers. This isn’t the first or the largest Chinese investment in the U.S. but it could be an important signal. Up till now, Chinese investment here has been dominated by large state-owned companies …
Today’s New York Times op-ed page features two columns on the dollar and the Chinese currency, the RMB. Nouriel Roubini concentrates on American policy. Victor Gao gives a somewhat depressing lesson in personal Chinese economic history. It’s a better discussion than standard claims the PRC is trying to ruin the …
The front page of the New York Times today has an article on China building cleaner coal-fired plants. The title and the article are fairly accurate but any conclusions should be carefully drawn. In particular, China is not taking effective steps to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. In raw terms, …
A Wall Street Journal headline today adds to a chorus of claims that China’s stimulus efforts are benefiting American business and the world economy. As with previous claims, however, there’s little substance. The WSJ article cites Caterpillar reporting China sales of excavators have returned to pre-crisis highs, concurrent with intensifying …
The Department of the Treasury has again declined to label China a currency manipulator. This will ruffle some feathers on the Congress, labor groups, certain industries, and some plain ol’ regular Americans. Those with ruffled feathers can make good points but Treasury is still right to have done nothing. There …
