Biting the hand that feeds you

   The war of words between the Bush administration and China last week over the downed U.S. spy plane was a controversy made in heaven for Europe's America-phobes. All talk of global recession, potential trade restrictions and the catastrophic fallout over the foot-and-mouth epidemic was shelved by newspaper editors in Europe in favor of rhetoric about the new Cold War and the freeze in Sino-U.S relations.

   So much hot air, really. Financially, neither side can afford a long tousle. Behind all the amateur dramatics is $115 billion worth of trade. Such huge sparring partners will inevitably come to blows from time to time, from being strategic partners to strategic competitors.

   But what's also interesting is the response by many Europeans who love to see the United States being taken down a peg or two. Bush has already been lambasted (as ethically he should have been) for walking out of the Kyoto environment accords. But what politician running the world's economic titan would have gone along with it? Al Gore? Gerhard Schroeder? International agreements seldom work where new tax regimes on cars and other environmental nasties will do more.

   Nevertheless, America bashing continues unabated in Europe. From missile defense projects and environmental catastrophe, to meat trade embargoes and economic meltdown, it's all the fault of the United States.

   But the world still relies on the Americans for their wealth and well-being. If the Kyoto agreement had been fixed, for example, recent studies reckon it could have cost the United States up to 4% gross domestic product a year. Regardless of the best intentions, most politicians would walk away from an agreement that places such potential strictures on the world's biggest economy. Industrialists around Europe are already concerned about the new regulations designed to curb emissions saying the moves will inevitably make Europe far less competitive in the world.

   Could anyone seriously expect China, Japan or Indonesia to put such curbs on their own heavyweight capitalists?

   The truth is that while European critics continue to rail against the United States, they also keep a keen eye on the country's economy and on what Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is going to do about the slowing economy.

   With economies grinding to a halt all over Europe – and Poland's is predicted by pessimists to slow to as much as 2-3% this year – it might be a good idea for Europeans to stop snapping at the hand that's feeding them. If Bush decides to implement trade restrictions to curb imports and help the U.S.' domestic industries, developed and emerging economies in Europe will have far more to complain about