Can of worms

One thing you learn early on is that there are usually two sides to every story. As you get older you realise that is very simplistic and the possible permutations can get quite confusing, especially when there are many factors present.

So it was either wonderfully naive or with grave trepidation that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had this to say:

U.S. obliged to look at real sources of China trade gap-Rice

The United States has to look into the "real" sources of the bulging U.S.-China trade gap.... "We have an obligation to speak to China about the real sources of the trade deficit, the need for structural reforms in China to address those questions," Rice said, listing this as a topic that would be addressed when President George W. Bush meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao on April 20 in Washington.

"It is not just a question of what the trade balances look like but how we can address it, and of course structural reform in China will help with that."

I'm sure she'll be considering structural things like the wholesale outsourcing of US manufacturing to China, the Wal-Mart/China import connection, the US addiction to China's purchase of US treasuries to keep US interest rates low, etc., no?