Explore how early American support played a role in China's economic rise, shifting US-China relations. Discusses trade imbalances, Nixon's visit, and the convergence of Chinese and American capitalism. Highlights the impact on American labor groups and the complex intertwining of economic, political, and human factors.
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China's 1970s Economic Opening
China's early economic openings began in the 1970s under Mao, aided by internal shifts during the Cultural Revolution.
These changes coincided with major US policy shifts like Nixon's China visit and ending gold-dollar convertibility, linking geopolitics with finance.
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US Business Motivations in China
American businesses initially imported from China despite often losing money, driven by fascination and long-term strategic interests.
They viewed China both as an exotic opportunity and a source of cheap labor for manufacturing goods.
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Converging Interests Shaped China
The convergence of Chinese export-focused reforms and American capitalism’s emerging outsourcing created the basis for China’s industrial rise.
American companies began to see China less as a market and more as a source of cheap labor, aligning with China's export ambitions.
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Today, the US and China are at loggerheads. There’s renewed talk of a Cold War as Washington finds various ways to cut China out of key supply chains and to block China’s economic development in areas like semiconductors and renewables.
There’s trade, of course, but the imbalance in that (some $370 billion in 2022) tilts in China’s favour and only serves as another source of ammunition for America’s Sinosceptics. China, on the other hand, is also decoupling in its own way, moving fast to cut its reliance on imported technology and energy.
At this moment, it seems like US-China tensions are inevitable – but look into the not so ancient history, and you’ll find a totally different picture. In fact, when it comes to Communist China’s early entry into the global economy, American policymakers and businesspeople were vital in the 1970s and 80s. You could even say that a big part of China’s economic success was ‘Made in America’.
I'm joined on the podcast by Elizabeth Ingleson, Assistant Professor of International History at the LSE, whose upcoming book contains some very interesting research on this question. It’s called Made in China: When US-China Interests Converged to Transform Global Trade. We discuss President Nixon's visit to China and how that opened up decades of American economic support to the Chinese miracle – including at the expense of its own workers.
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Chinese Whispers