Trading Soybeans for Computers
3rd March 2025
The majority of our exports to China are raw products like petroleum and soybeans, the two largest categories being exported, while the majority of China’s exports to the United States are manufactured products like computers and other technical equipment.
We send corn and sorghum to China, they ship us back batteries and toys. We sell them coal and ores, they sell us circuit boards and car parts. We ship them tanned hides and meat, and then receive back optical fibers and medical equipment.
Advanced societies buy raw resources from backward societies and sell them back the manufactured goods. We export scrap metal to China, they send us back steel. We send them scrap copper, they ship us back the equipment of which that copper is a component. We export polymers and import the finished ‘Made in China’ plastic products that fill up our stores.