> I could never understand why export subsidies are bad for the importing countries The best explanation I can give is an inversion of the saying "Give a man a

> I could never understand why export subsidies are bad for the importing countries The best explanation I can give is an inversion of the saying "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, and you feed him for life." If you give a man who can feed himself free fish until he loses those skills, he'll become dependent on you and you'll have power over him. > And while the Chinese are kind enough to help us pay for their products with their own money we can focus instead on other stuff which we’re really great at building/providing as a service. The Chinese don't seem to be interested in buying any of that (except farm products and raw materials). They're working on domestic substitutes for high-tech things they do by from the US [1]. Maybe the US pursue a "back to the countryside/back to agriculture" movement to adapt to the export subsidies? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comac https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comac (state owned) is working on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comac_C919 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comac_C919, for instance.