Tug-Of-War Over Trade

CHRISTOPHER MORRIS-VII FOR TIME

TRADING FACES: George W. Bush wants Premier Wen Jiabao to slow exports. The gist of Wen's reply: Why should I?

Jerry Rowland feels the dragon breathing down his neck. He's the CEO of National Textiles, a T-shirtmaker in a U.S. state that has lost more than 37,000 textile jobs since the U.S. lifted quotas on Chinese imports two years ago. Unless Rowland's North Carolina workers suddenly become competitive with Chinese counterparts who earn just a few dollars a day, he fears his employees will be next. Rowland ticks off what he regards as China's unfair advantages: excessive government protection, an underpriced currency, cowed and underpaid workers, exports dumped below cost. If Washington won't help, he says, he'll have to move some...

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