China's cheap exports are leading to untold losses of jobs in Europe and the EU for that reason won't be lifting trade barriers that would have made it easier for China's exports to get into Europe. Apparently if European politicians have their way it will be harder for China to export their goods to Europe and that means it might take longer than for their economy to recover. I'm sure all this will in some way negatively impact the stock market.
Well, I think the EU has the right to do what they think is best in regard to China. Personally, I wish we in the US had a few more barriers, checks and balances with China. I mean the things they ship into this country and try to pass off as safe is unreal. People don't want "big" government, but the US is a big country. Several more inspectors to inspect shipments and cargo coming in from China would be nice. Of course,,some of it, without really testing it in a lab would be hard to detect anyway.
China is now having a problem with their cheap labor. There are no new factory workers since most of the young are university graduates all wanting to work in an office. They shun factory work. With that atmosphere in the labor department, the cost of goods is slowly rising and greatly affecting the economy of China. But their cheap products for export remain so I guess countries should be on the lookout so as not to be a dumping site. By the way, cheap Chinese products have no guarantee on quality and durability.
The EU is a complex system that benefits companies, but isn't uniform throughout. Wales has suffered from this and has resulted in factories being closed, people blame the government for not helping the steel industry, but when a country loses power over what can be imported, then how can they do anything? That's why the UK should leave the EU, so they can regulate, protect jobs and create their own tariffs.
I have been saying this for years. The economic power of China is greatly exaggerated. They are no different than Japan in the 1970 and 80s. They are at the peak where their cheap labor is starting to disappear and more and more of their citizens are reaching middle class, which means they are demanding social services, education, healthcare, fair wages, and environmental protection... all of which are going to put their cost of doing business more in line with the west ( and Japan). Next up will be Nigeria ( IMHO ).. in 20 years we will be talking about them ´taking american jobs´..
I also have to agree that while China IS a economic power now, and its growth as been steadily increasing over the past few years, the was always going to come a time when it started to slow down, and I think that time as come. Most nations go through a boom period, but they all start to level off eventually, and that's what's starting to happen with China now.
It's a competitive world out there. You can try to protect domestic jobs and industries by stifling trade, or you can compete with the world. I don't even think it's a good idea to stop trade to protect crappy jobs. If the cost of labour is the only thing keeping you in a job or keeping your company competitive, you don't have a competitive advantage. Instead of fighting over low wage low skilled jobs, why doesn't Europe try to encourage it's companies to be world class competitors or focus on more value added types of employment?
