Hacker News Reader

It could be well within the Chinese government agenda to have broader control over global productive capacity. Impossible to prove, I know.

Generally I'm pro-free trade, but the issue gets quite messy when you consider government subsidies. As a Canadian, this discussion comes up frequently along the lines of the subsidized agriculture sector.

the doc death by china covers some of these issues... not free trade by a long shot, more like an ongoing trade war

Exactly why the Saudis are doing their best to kill the US fracking industry.

Worse still, China could actually start enforcing their restrictions on exporting raw aluminium and drive non-Chinese manufacturing industry out of business by cutting off their supply of feedstock, as they also tried to do with rare earth metals.