China's joining of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was seen as a way to open its economy to further international trade and to force China to play within the rules. One common measure are "anti-dumping" actions, where businesses in (say) America can allege a country (say) China is dumping goods at well below "fair" cost, thus causing damage to those local businesses that cannot compete. Such measures have a place but are often abused for protectionist reasons. Typically anti-dumping actions are brought against very low cost producers who can sell at a far cheaper rate than local competitors can match. If the case if found proved special tariffs are applied to level out the playing field. More often than not the low cost producer is a country such as China.

But not always. China is imposing antidumping tariffs on optical fiber from the US, Japan, S. Korea. What a splendid turnaround on typical dumping actions. Last week a US judge also lifted import restrictions on Chinese textiles. Textiles were made quota-free around the world on January 1st and many expect China to rapidly claim a far larger market share in the absence of quotas, although it hasn't happened yet. But it will. If you're in retailing you want to find the cheapest supplier, not the one your Government forces you to buy from due to restrictions or quotas.

It's called free trade. It works.