Can You Live Without China’s Junk?
Dr. Glenn Mollette
What does China export to the United States? Items include electronics, machinery, furniture, bedding, clothing, footwear, toys, cars, motorcycles, medical equipment, needles and catheters. There is of course more.
These and other products are a big part of the over $48.83 billion in exports China sent to the US in December, 2024 alone. For the entire year it was over $600 billion.
To break it down, we imported $34.2 b (billion) in computers. $23.2 b in phones $4.3 b in televisions. Semiconductors $3.4 b. Industrial machines $8.5 b. Printing machinery $1.3 b. Textile machines $1.2 b. Vaccines $1.1 b. Insulin $134 million. Furniture $15.5 billion. Footwear $5.6 billion. These numbers are based on 2022 trade deals, so the dollar amount is always changing but it gives us an idea of how dependent we have become on China. This of course is not comprehensive as there are various other medicines and items that China exports to us. For example, Tylenol, Advil, Motrin, Amoxicillin, Keflex, blood pressure meds, Hydrochlorothiazide, Metformin, Vitamin C, Aspirin, insulin tablets and more come from China.
Does this scare you? It may because we import so much from China. However, it should make us all mad. How did we get ourselves into this mess? American companies took our jobs to cheap labor places like China where these products are made by people working for slave wages. These products were made cheaply and then sold back to us. The American people were robbed of jobs and opportunities to provide for our children because a lot of our jobs were outsourced somewhere else.
These companies have gotten by with it for over 30 years while our people in America had to go to work for McDonalds, Walmart, Starbucks and pray to God every day that they might make $12 or $13 an hour. We allowed our automobile industry to suffer, we buried our energy industry and became dependent on China, Vietnam, Japan and other countries.
Thus, Walmart became American’s store because we can go to Walmart and buy for cheap. Walmart and Dollar General are about the only stores most Americans can afford. They are no longer the choice just because they are cheaper. They are all most Americans can afford. Hold on, because of the tariffs Walmart will become more expensive.
Can anybody answer the question why we allowed this slow growing but almost fatal economic cancer to invade our mindset and our country? We did not protect ourselves. We looked out for the world and let our own country suffer. Now we are having to undergo a serious time of economic surgery and treatment.
It’s way, way, past time to bring the manufacturing back to America. It will not happen overnight. In the meantime, keep in mind that numerous other countries make medicine. India exports over $9 b a year. Ireland over $8 b. Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Canada, the UK, Israel and Singapore export billions of dollars of medicine every year. There are other places besides China to buy our medicine.
The same goes for electronics, toys, furniture and shoes. For example, toys. Yes, China exports 85% of our toys, but other countries make toys such as good old Vietnam. They exported $3.4 b last year while Indonesia and Thailand both exported over $4 b in toys. There are other places for us to buy toys.
We can find a way to live without China. It’s way past time.
Ronald Reagan and ever Republican President that has followed.
They are anti-union they are pro-business Republicans at every turn protect the companies they believe that they create all the jobs but it’s the consumer who creates the jobs. In fact, 70% of the economy is driven by the consumer not the businesses. When Reagan fired the air traffic controllers in 1981 it gave the ok for businesses and states to pass right to work laws we have today. While on the other hand every CEO and Board members negotiate their own contracts. All you have to do is look at the middle class before 1980 and today what’s the biggest change it’s union labor participating.