Increasingly reliant on each other for sustainable economic growth, the United States and China have fallen into a classic codependency trap, bristling at changes in the rules of engagement. The symptoms of this insidious pathology were on clear display during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to America. Little was accomplished, and the path ahead remains treacherous.
Codependency between America and China was born in the late 1970s, when the US was in the grips of wrenching stagflation, and the Chinese economy was in shambles following the Cultural Revolution. Both countries needed new recipes for revival and growth, and turned to each other in a marriage of convenience. China provided cheap goods that enabled income-constrained American consumers to make ends meet, and the US provided the external demand that underpinned Deng Xiaoping’s export-led growth strategy.
Over the years, this arrangement morphed into a deeper relationship. Lacking in saving and wanting to grow, the US relied increasingly on China’s vast reservoir of surplus saving to make ends meet. Anchoring its currency to the dollar, the Chinese built up a huge stake in US Treasuries, which helped America fund record budget deficits.
Explanation:
A good example of codependent markets is market between the United States of America and Peoples' Republic of China.
America as industrial economy with high consumption rate has savings problems and has relied on Chinese surplus savings to shore up her budget deficits overtime
China has increasingly turned to America for as her sustenance and anchor her economic development strategy on America. On the other hand America needs China for economic growth.
Over time America has relied on the vast saving from China to grow her economy, leading to most Chinese buying up American treasuries and other securities. America, unconsciously and systematically outsourced her basic production lines to China and import basically everything from china. At the same time providing China with the technology and strategy to grow her economy.
The whole world tends to depend on China for most of commodities. China has vast exporting machines and has also advanced rapidly in science and technology. Employment grew in China as well as consumption rate. Now China sits at advantage of having export ability and local consumption economy.
This is not going down well with America, resulting in many trade wars and imposition of tariffs to Chinese goods. America had wanted China to be part of the Briton Woods of global lending economy due to her surplus savings, but China has decided to go the way of Silk road fund and others.
Finally, of the two economies, the export economies benefits most from the symbiotic relationship between the industrial economies and export economies.
