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Washington Post: There's nothing that we can do about Chinese mercantilism
Howard Richman, 3/14/2010

The business section of the Washington Post had an article which layed out Obama's trade agenda. When it came to China, they correctly identified Chinese trade policies as mercantilist and then concluded that there's nothing we can do about it. Here's the relevant passage in which they conclude that Obama is right in doing nothing:

Many in Congress want the administration to declare China a currency manipulator and slap it with sanctions. That could backfire if China, which believes that Japan destroyed its economy by bowing to U.S. currency demands in the 1980s, finds effective ways to retaliate. Correcting China's currency policy, alas, is probably a long-term effort that the United States can most effectively wage in concert with other trading nations that are also damaged by Chinese mercantilism. In the meantime, the best thing that the United States could do for its international competitiveness would be to cut its own immense long-term fiscal deficits. Unlike China's exchange rate, that is something over which Americans have complete control.

Comment by Wiseguy, 3/16/2010:

Amen