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Is there a free trade agreement that’s being broken? From what I can see, China does not allow free trade. While the US did. And because this was so “unfair”,

Is there a free trade agreement that’s being broken? From what I can see, China does not allow free trade. While the US did. And because this was so “unfair”, the US decided “fuck it, we don’t want free trade either”. It won’t gain the US much, and will drastically hurt it going forward, especially considering how much the US has benefited from its open business environment in the past. Honestly, this is pretty much the definition of childishness. You don’t find something fair so you react to it, instead of actually considering the benefits and downsides of an action before making it. It’s the immaturity and short sightedness of the American government’s behavior, which is the complete opposite of how the US has acted in the past as far as business is concerned, at least, is what will hurt it the most.

adventured 6y ago
> And because this was so “unfair”, the US decided “fuck it, we don’t want free trade either”. The US didn't do anything like that in fact. You're inventing that premise, broadening what's going on as though it applies to every context when it really applies specifically to China. As one prominent example, Shopify hasn't required permission to build their $128 billion juggernaut ecommerce platform, riding the US economy like it was a native US company to do it. Neither has Spotify, Trump isn't threatening to ban them. And you don't need permission to use eg Stripe Atlas to start some giant new tech start-up, riding the US market to great riches. You can just go do it, right now. Just like you could ten years ago. You won't have to pay bribes to anyone to be allowed into the US market, or to be allowed to stay in the US market. I can freely access eg Baidu and Yandex from the US, despite the context with China and Russia. How does that work the other direction from inside China? Can you freely sign up for Facebook while inside of China? You can build the next Twitter, KiK, Viber, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Reddit, Imgur, etc. - riding the very comprehensive and strong US free speech protections - without the permission of the US Government. Try that in China and you won't get very far. The US should treat China as it treats the US, and no better.
- dirtyid 6y ago
  >The US should treat China as it treats the US, and no better. TikTok would love that 50/50 JV with a FAANG / with tech transfer instead of sale, if only treatment were proportional and reciprocal.

adventured 6y ago

> And because this was so “unfair”, the US decided “fuck it, we don’t want free trade either”. The US didn't do anything like that in fact. You're inventing that premise, broadening what's going on as though it applies to every context when it really applies specifically to China. As one prominent example, Shopify hasn't required permission to build their $128 billion juggernaut ecommerce platform, riding the US economy like it was a native US company to do it. Neither has Spotify, Trump isn't threatening to ban them. And you don't need permission to use eg Stripe Atlas to start some giant new tech start-up, riding the US market to great riches. You can just go do it, right now. Just like you could ten years ago. You won't have to pay bribes to anyone to be allowed into the US market, or to be allowed to stay in the US market. I can freely access eg Baidu and Yandex from the US, despite the context with China and Russia. How does that work the other direction from inside China? Can you freely sign up for Facebook while inside of China? You can build the next Twitter, KiK, Viber, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Reddit, Imgur, etc. - riding the very comprehensive and strong US free speech protections - without the permission of the US Government. Try that in China and you won't get very far. The US should treat China as it treats the US, and no better.

dirtyid 6y ago
>The US should treat China as it treats the US, and no better. TikTok would love that 50/50 JV with a FAANG / with tech transfer instead of sale, if only treatment were proportional and reciprocal.