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and the US famously never subsidizes any of its industries...
by nikisweeting 3mo ago
and the US famously never subsidizes any of its industries...
- gruez 3mo agoWhich industries are the US leading in because of subsidies?
- greyb 3mo agoIf a country hands out enormous subsidies but yet isn't leading in anything, then maybe it's time to consider what structural reasons are causing these subsidies to be squandered and whose bottom lines are being padded.
- sarchertech 3mo agoWhat US industries get anywhere near Chinese level subsidies.
- baby 3mo agoI heard that when some country wants to pay in a different currency than USD for oil, a coup suddenly happens, or a helicopter comes and the president gets kidnapped
- sarchertech 3mo agoThe US dollar being the global reserve currency makes exports more expensive though.
- inigyou 3mo agoIt basically means most of the world's currency wealth is held in the USA or backed by the USA. So the answer would be the finance sector - it's subsidized by the rest of the world.
- sarchertech 3mo agoThat’s a stretch for the topic at hand. You can say hey the US does this probably morally equivalent thing, but when people are talking about subsidizing domestic companies so they can outcompete foreign companies in foreign markets, this isn’t what they’re talking about.
- inigyou 3mo agoAgriculture?
- sarchertech 3mo agoChina spends close to 10x what the US does on agriculture subsidies.
- baby 3mo agoEVs, mobile phones, are two massive industries where Chinese competitors are not only way ahead, but also basically banned.
- nick238 3mo agoOil, natural gas, corn (for fuel), soybeans (for cattle feed)
- bruce511 3mo agoArms, weapons, fighter jets and so on. The US sounds a trillion $ a year subsidizing the military industrial complex. The US chose their market (arms). The Chinese chose consumer goods. Go figure.
- mstachowiak 3mo agoSadly, consumer goods are the new arms (drones, batteries, etc)
- tadfisher 3mo agoBasically every "made in USA" consumer product has a DOD contract. The DOD is mandated by law to purchase from US companies, so there is a huge sector of small-to-medium businesses which only exist because there is a guaranteed order coming every quarter for uniforms or boots or other equipment that would likely be 1/3 the price if they were contract-manufactured in China or Vietnam. Not saying this is uniformly bad, because without the law the number of businesses with the ability to manufacture this stuff would trend toward zero, but it is a form of subsidy.
- throwaway2037 3mo agoI wonder if this pattern is true for all militaries in rich countries. I think it sounds like good economic policy. If you want to grow your military, then you need to make sure it is spent domestically. Also, the "finish good" may include lots of parts that were built overseas. Think about a Tomohawk missile: I am sure the microchips are all made overseas. That said, the intellectual property is developed domestically (or with very close allies) and final assembly is done domestically.
- sarchertech 3mo agoUS Arms exports bring in around $13 billion a year. The military industrial complex is a domestic jobs program that sells the vast majority of what it makes domestically. The US is clearly not spending a trillion dollars a year subsidizing defense in order to make their products more competitive in other markets. https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/arms_exports/ https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/arms_exports/
- t0mpr1c3 3mo agoEver wondered why everything in the USA contains corn syrup? Because sugar is artificially expensive (roughly double the global price) due to import tariffs that protect US sugar cane farmers.
- creato 3mo ago> Between 2005 and 2024, Chinese firms received on average three to eight times more subsidies than competitors in OECD economies. https://www.oecd.org/en/blogs/2026/06/industrial-subsidies-hit-usd-108-billion-and-reshape-global-competition.html https://www.oecd.org/en/blogs/2026/06/industrial-subsidies-h...
- baby 3mo agoI can't read this seriously while being unable to buy any Chinese EVs here in the US.
- tptacek 3mo agoYou can't buy Chinese EVs in the US because China is overtly running a dumping campaign for them. It's an interesting story, read up on it!
- awesome_dude 3mo agoWait - what? You cannot buy them because they are dumping them??????
- tptacek 3mo ago"Dumping" is a term of art in international trade. It's the thing that happens when a foreign exporter sells goods in your country below their production cost (or far below what they're charging domestic customers). It's done to fuck up the foreign markets for those goods, or, in China's case, as a relief valve for malinvestment. China drastically overfunds EV production. There's a whole weird story where provinces apparently competed to get slices of the EV production business, which resulted in a large number of competing firms, producing far more vehicles than the Chinese domestic market could consume. This isn't just a US thing. Europe tariffs the heck out of these cars.
- awesome_dude 3mo ago