Unmade In China

The Rising China/Declining America narrative is pervasive, even reaching the Republican presidential race with Donald Trump accusing China of "killing us" by stealing American jobs and national wealth. But it’s premature to write off the next hundred years as the China century. Looking carefully at how things are actually made in China -- from T-shirts to toys, baby formula to bridges -- shows a reality that contradicts every widely held notion about the world's so-called economic powerhouse. China is not a manufacturing juggernaut; it struggles to build toys safely. Nor is China a job killer; it is a vast consumer of American goods and services, supporting millions of U.S. jobs.

Jeremy Haft, a Georgetown University business professor informed by years of experience building companies in China, turns the Rising China/Declining America narrative on its head by showing how China's economy really works, from the ground up, and why it's both a danger and opportunity for Americans. With nearly two decades of importing and exporting experience to China, Haft argues that China's manufacturing and agricultural sectors are hamstrung by unseen systemic risk, which creates danger for Americans who consume China's products, but also presents tremendous economic opportunities for American industry and labor.

Please join New America in welcoming Jeremy Haft for a discussion on his book and the weaknesses of China's economy and what it could mean for the United States.

Follow the discussion online using #UnmadeInChina and following @NatSecNAF.

Copies of the book will be available for sale at the event.

Participants:

Jeremy Haft
Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University
Author, Unmade in China: The Hidden Truth about China’s Economic Miracle

Bay Fang
Senior Fellow, International Security Program, New America
Managing Director, NE Asia, Radio Free Asia