How Western dependence on China shocked the supply chain

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised alarms on many fronts across the world. The fear of a new virus raging, above all. But as the world locked down in an effort to control the spread of the virus, other concerns emerged, such as the safety of face masks and respirators, computer chips and car parts — and even toilet paper. The pandemic has exposed the fragility of the global supply chain. New York Times Global economics correspondent Peter S. Goodman explores these fault lines and how they emerged in his new book, How the world lacked everything (Marin, June). In this excerpt, Goodman analyzes how, decades earlier, companies around the world began to rely on China to improve their bottom lines by providing cheap labor for manufacturing and a large consumer market , resulting in widespread offshoring and just-in-time shipping, with no safety net.

Even for a figure prone to impromptu displays of showmanship, Bill Clinton outdid himself in the massive banquet hall in the heart of Beijing.

It was a balmy night in June 1998, and the president was alternately courting and pressuring the Chinese government to approve U.S. terms on a deal bringing the nation into the World Trade Organization. trade. He and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton were attending a state dinner at the Great Hall of the People, the colonnaded fortress occupying the western edge of Tiananmen Square.

Nine years earlier, the square had been the scene of an extraordinary protest movement led by students demanding more freedom. The People’s Liberation Army suppressed the uprising with a massacre that killed several hundred people. This act of brutality defined China in international discourse for years. But China’s pariah status was already fading as Western leaders salivated over the lucrative opportunities waiting to be exploited there. The Clintons were in Beijing serving this cause.

Clinton initially presented himself as one of China’s most vocal critics. During his 1992 campaign, he attacked incumbent President George HW Bush for normalizing trade relations. He accused Bush of pandering to the “butchers of Beijing.” Shortly after taking office, Clinton signed an executive order threatening China with tariffs of up to 70 percent unless it demonstrated “generally significant progress” on human rights.