There is no gas shortage...

SWJJ said

but thats the results of free trade policies (IE with China) If tariffs were placed on these goods the price would be/would have been when we still had manufacturing more on par with the prices of products made domestically.

Now that we have moved into NAFTA we are multiplying the effects from the Chinese free trade policy.

So we get cheaper goods so comsumer americans can buy more and feel like the economy is going better than it is.

But we are addicted to cheap imports, if Free trade with China, and Nafta ended tomorrow, it would cripple the economy.

Click to expand...

We don't have a free trade agreement with China. They simply have regular trade that every other nation has with use (except those that DO have a trade agreement).

NAFTA is strictly for trade between the US, Canada, and Mexico.

The reason China can produce goods so cheaply is because their labor rates border on slavery (and sometimes it is just flat out slavery) and they have very few regulatory controls (when compared to most western countries)

However you are right in that we are addicted. There is no going back. But that also hurts China. They are dependent on us buying their goods. If we killed trade with China it would drive up inflation for a few years. However China's economy would be wrecked almost instantly. I'd have to go look it up but I think trade exports to the US make up almost half their entire economy.