Despite some exaggerated points about toxicity and risk, Brett Decker and William Triplett make some good points in the article about slipshod Chinese exports.
Decker and Triplett write in the Washington Times,
Americans are putting our nation in hock to a communist power for loans so we can buy more stuff at a lower price. In return, we are getting tainted produce, exploding patio tables and killer stuffed animals. Lead toys threaten our kids and poisonous pet food kills our animals. Moreover, there has been no discernible improvement in the safety of Chinese imports in the past decade, showing that Beijing has no interest in cleaning up its toxic trade. In fact, the opposite is the case; more contaminated products are making it into our stores as we buy more Chinese merchandise every year.
Health and safety standards should not be so hard to guarantee, especially in China. Supposedly, the authoritarian government has ironfisted control of the country, which means it should be able to put a lid on the regulatory violations behind the toxic trade. Of course, in reality the communists don’t want to clean up many of their exports because doing so could hurt the bottom line. They will cut any corner – or any throat – to get ahead, and American consumers continue to feed the beast.