So far this year, U.S. bra imports from China have risen 71%, uplifted by firming demand for bras from China after trade rules were softened in 2002. U.S. trade officials called the big upturn in bra imports from China a "surge," a subversive and protectionist trade concept that gave the Bush administration a technical excuse to impose quotas on made-in-China brassieres. The quotas, also applied to bathrobes and other clothing products, triggered another sagging episode for the U.S. dollar and caused the Dow Jones average to droop. But it would be wrong, or at least premature, to talk of trade wars and global trade meltdowns. While risks exist, the United States may well have fallen into the bosom of a trade strategy that could save world trade. If there is anything that could avert trade confrontation, it has to be the laughable threat of a bra war.
I wouldn’t call the threat laughable, look what happens whenever a FBI agent gets near a Chinese brassiere. |