ABSTRACT
In a surprisingly short time, the bilateral relationship with China has come to dominate American public and official views on globalization. The list of American grievances is familiar: a burgeoning bilateral trade deficit, currency misalignment, accumulation of US financial assets and various ‘unfair’ trade practices. These were also staples of the US demonization of Japan in the 1980s, before the seemingly invincible ‘Japan Incorporated’ began to falter. Now China has replaced Japan as the country with the largest bilateral trade surplus with the United States, and also as the main (though by no means only) object of American dissatisfaction with its trading partners. Just as US bilateral relations with Japan were characterized by a wide range of discriminatory policy initiatives, China is now the object of unprecedented discriminatory treatment in its bilateral relationship with the United States and also as a less-than-equal member of the World Trade Organization since its accession in 2001.
