Answer: We never tell dangerous foreign governments to go screw themselves, especially if they're economically important to us
History shows that even when Hitler declared war on the United States, business transactions with Germany were not illegal. It was only six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor that President Roosevelt signed the Trading With the Enemy Act, ie only after a public outcry that U.S. companies were doing business with a declared enemy. More recently, the USA continued to buy oil from Saddam Hussein all the way up to the invasion of Iraq, and then switched over asap to buying from the next administration. The USA needed the oil more than it needed to cut off all ties with Saddam.
The decision to buy or sell a product to/from a competitor is strategic, not emotional. Whether a country is friendly or not is secondary. The question is: Will it give the USA competitive advantage in the long term? Trade with China has brought the US economy huge profits (eg: Wal-Mart). Stopping all trade with China would make the $500 Billion subprime write-down look like an appetizer.
In reality, US companies NEED to work with China (or the next cheap country), and they're constantly selling patents to China in order to get things made. They gotta keep inventing to stay ahead, and why would they want to buy badly outdated products? Those spies were simply trying to get ahead of the curve, but the USA is still miles ahead of China in R&D.
So basically it's business as usual with China, and it would take an event on the scale of Pearl Harbour to push the US Govt to legislate. This latest spying scandal is not it.
Slashdot Mirror
History shows that even when Hitler declared war on the United States, business transactions with Germany were not illegal. It was only six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor that President Roosevelt signed the Trading With the Enemy Act, ie only after a public outcry that U.S. companies were doing business with a declared enemy. More recently, the USA continued to buy oil from Saddam Hussein all the way up to the invasion of Iraq, and then switched over asap to buying from the next administration. The USA needed the oil more than it needed to cut off all ties with Saddam.
The decision to buy or sell a product to/from a competitor is strategic, not emotional. Whether a country is friendly or not is secondary. The question is: Will it give the USA competitive advantage in the long term? Trade with China has brought the US economy huge profits (eg: Wal-Mart). Stopping all trade with China would make the $500 Billion subprime write-down look like an appetizer.
In reality, US companies NEED to work with China (or the next cheap country), and they're constantly selling patents to China in order to get things made. They gotta keep inventing to stay ahead, and why would they want to buy badly outdated products? Those spies were simply trying to get ahead of the curve, but the USA is still miles ahead of China in R&D.
So basically it's business as usual with China, and it would take an event on the scale of Pearl Harbour to push the US Govt to legislate. This latest spying scandal is not it.