China must have done something incredibly offensive and negligent to anger the United States as much as it has this past week. Has China been sending its military forces out into the world to spread its own ideals and beliefs? No. Was China responsible for the economic collapse of world markets in 2008 due to its incognizance and inability to regulate a speculative subprime mortgage industry? No. The U.S. has accused China of being a “currency manipulator” and has vowed to aggressively sanction trade if China does not let its renminbi float to its true value (currently 6.83 renminbi = 1 U.S. dollar). The Chinese are being targeted by the U.S. for simply managing its own currency in its own land and making very strategic, ethical monetary policies that would benefit its own people, but this is something every sovereignty has the right to do.

The current issue is that an undervalued renminbi makes it very attractive for the U.S. and other nations of the world to buy products from China because you essentially get more “bang for your buck” in the end. This because China enforced a fixed exchange rate that made sure you got more renminbi for each dollar you have. The U.S. thinks that by forcing China to stop giving you more renminbi for each dollar you have, this will make other countries buy less Chinese products. The fact of the matter is that cheap Chinese goods are purchased by almost every country, especially the U.S. If Chinese goods ceased to be so cheap, we would still need to have those goods. Where will we get these goods? The U.S. obviously cannot supply them or otherwise we would be doing that right this moment and beat the Chinese in exporting more goods. The answer is that Chinese goods will be more expensive and consumer goods prices will go up for everyone including Joe Average. No one wins by forcing the Chinese to revaluate its renminbi.

Recently, a bipartisan group of 130 Congressman including Dennis Kucinich and Joe Wilson has written a petition to President Barack Obama asking him to do something about this manipulation of the Chinese currency. The petition claims that “by pegging the renminbi (RMB) to the U.S. dollar at a fixed exchange rate, China unfairly subsidizes its exports and disadvantages foreign imports.” It goes on to say that “U.S. exports to the country cannot compete with the low-priced Chinese equivalents, and domestic American producers are similarly disadvantaged in the face of subsidized Chinese imports.” I am curious about the word “unfairly” in the context of that petition. How can it be unfair if the Chinese are subsidizing companies in China? It is the decision of the Chinese government to decide what rules and regulations to apply in its homeland. Contrary to popular U.S. belief, China is not subject to rules we demand that they follow. And hasn’t the U.S. been subsidizing everything from carmakers to farmers for decades? Subsidization is completely natural for a country to promote growth and stability in flourishing or established companies within its borders. Is it a form of protectionism? You bet it is. But is it immoral and a crime against humanity? Definitely not. Every country has a goal to become the global trading leader, and China is just making a move to get there faster.

The other striking part of the passage from the petition is about how U.S. exports cannot compete with cheaper Chinese equivalents. This sounds more like a product manufacturing and efficiency issue rather than a political and economic one. If the U.S. cannot produce goods that can compete with foreign ones, it should either improve efficiency and lower costs of production or not compete in the market at all. A competitor is not “cheating” if he can make things just as good but much cheaper; he is practicing good business and product management.

The U.S. also thinks that by forcing the Chinese to let the value of the renminbi rise, China will lose its competitive edge in the world market and America will stand to gain a lot. So Congress wants to force the Chinese to change its currency policies to better suit America’s interests and needs? This must sound completely ludicrous if you are the Chinese government. Imagine you and your neighbor are in a Christmas house decoration competition and your neighbor comes over to ask you to stop putting up nice decorations because he cannot keep up. Remember, you are trying to win a competition fairly and you are the owner of your own house when your neighbor makes this demand. Yeah, I wouldn’t listen either.