China may have increased its share of US imports but these gains

China may have increased its share of US imports, but these gains have been mostly at the expense of other nations exporting to the US. China’s bilateral trade surplus with the US may have gone up in recent years, but this partly reflects China’s growing role as the world’s assembly base.Thirty years ago, Japanese companies would export directly to the US: now, they’re more likely to send their exports to China for final assembly before being shipped off to America. Their view is simple: good US manufacturing jobs are being lost to low-cost operations in China. To prove this, they highlight, first, America’s bilateral trade deficit with China, second, China’s increased share of American imports and, third, the decline in manufacturing activity within the American economy.As with many political arguments, hyperbole seems to get in the way of the facts. But this relationship is upsetting a lot of US politicians: they regard China less as an economic partner and more as a threat.Many political leaders, for example, are happy to point the finger at China as the underlying cause of America’s ever-increasing trade deficit. That, in itself, reveals the overriding importance of the growing economic relationship between the two superpowers.

Mr Hu spent more of his time with American business leaders than with George Bush and his Washington colleagues. When it comes to economic policy, countries sometimes cannot agree on the right approach: they protect their own at the expense of the greater good.It was probably asking too much to see anything of great significance emerge from President Hu Jintao’s trip to Washington last week. And divided loyalties make it difficult at times to reach the right decision. Globalisation has changed the ways in which we think about the beautiful game: clubs these days have to attract the world’s best players, not just the best players from a single country. Most of us have few problems with this idea.In other spheres of life, we have difficulty with globalisation.

On 20 June, when England play Sweden, most fans will be hoping John Terry makes the smart tackle to prevent Freddie Ljungberg from breaching the English defences: Arsenal fans will be supporting the Chelsea player at the Arsenal star’s expense.We all have these divided loyalties. We don’t mind that the players at our favourite club aren’t English: what matters is that the club wins. It may be that the playing field is not always as level as it might be – there aren’t enough Roman Abramoviches to go around – but few Arsenal fans are likely to be disappointed should Ars? Wenger’s men lift the Champions’ League trophy.Those Arsenal fans who also happen to be English – the vast majority, I assume – will soon find themselves with divided loyalties. An embarrasse de riches indeed: French players, French-speaking players, a few other non-English nationalities and a French manager. Judged by playing staff alone, Real Madrid, with David Beckham and Jonathan Woodgate, is more English than Arsenal.
Soccer teams these days are the living embodiment of globalisation. So who would he choose from Arsenal’s stars? If he was at last week’s match, Sven could think about Henry, Flamini or Pires (French), Toure or Eboue (Ivorian), Bergkamp or Van Persie (Dutch), Senderos (Swiss), Silva (Brazilian), Fabregas (Spanish), Ljungberg (Swedish), Hleb (Belorussian) or Lehmann (German). Sven-G? Eriksson must be licking his lips: with all this English success, he has an embarrasse de riches from which to select his team for this summer’s World Cup.

Should the Gunners prevail against Villareal tomorrow, we can celebrate the renaissance of English football. An English team winning the Champions’ League last year, potential finalists – and possible winners – this year: it sounds marvellous. Arsenal have one foot in the Champions’ League final. Other nations that may also qualify include Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, which will host the annual meetings in September where Mr de Rato said he would publish “concrete proposals”.This could be the most significant change to the IMF since 1971, when the Bretton Woods agreement that obliged countries to fix their exchange rates to gold was abandoned.Observers noted last week marked the 60th anniversary of the death of John Maynard Keynes, the British economist seen as the architect of Bretton Woods.. “Chinese economic reform always follows the philosophy of gradualism (but) probably it can be a little bit faster.”Meanwhile, Mr de Rato said the IMFC had given him a clear mandate to propose changes to the voting shares of some countries, including some emerging market economies, by September. His proposal would give ad hoc increases to a small number of countries like China, South Korea and Mexico.