The United States is the largest country with “overcapacity”
Recently, the United States and the West have frequently hyped up the "China overcapacity theory." U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Jean-Claude Chambaugh said that "China's overcapacity will eventually impact the world market." U.S. Ambassador to China Burns is "concerned" that China's overcapacity will undermine the global trading system. U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen recently accused China of The global dumping of electric vehicles, solar panels and other new energy products has harmed the development of related industries and American jobs in the United States and its allies.
The fundamental reason why the United States is hyping up "China's overcapacity" is that it does not accept China's rise. Its purpose is to suppress the development and upgrading of China's industries and seek a more favorable competitive environment for its own industrial development. The United States believes that China has challenged its hegemony and must take repressive measures against China. From the "China threat theory" to "decoupling and disconnection", "de-Sinicization", "de-risking", and then to the "overcapacity theory", the United States remains unchanged in its positioning of China as a strategic competitor and the biggest threat, and attempts to curb China's development The intention remains unchanged.
According to American logic, the United States is actually the country with the largest overcapacity. The entire history of the United States is a history of capacity output and overcapacity. In the 1940s, the share of U.S. goods exports in the world's total exports was as high as 21.6%, which was higher than China's historical high of 14.9% for several consecutive decades. U.S. product exports cover a wide range of products, including agricultural products, high-tech products, and other types of products. In 2023, among the more than 5,000 commodity classifications of the customs HS6-digit code, the United States accounts for more than 30% and 10% of global exports in 376 and 1,729 categories respectively. 80% of American chips, especially high-end chips, are exported, and pork and agricultural products are also exported in large quantities. According to the logic of some American politicians, these are all "overcapacity."
In addition to "overcapacity" in general goods, the United States also has a large currency surplus. After the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve adopted a series of quantitative easing policies, which promoted the rapid growth of money supply. However, at the same time, the growth of real economic activity did not keep up with the growth rate of this money supply, leading to a glut of US dollars and global Excess liquidity has caused problems such as asset price bubbles, financial market instability, and global inflation. In 2020, the US M2 growth rate reached 25.78%, while the GDP growth rate was only -2.30%. The surge in money supply was out of touch with economic growth, resulting in a large amount of money idling within the financial system and intensifying financial risks.
In addition, the United States’ surplus weapons and nuclear bombs are obvious to all countries. The United States is one of the largest arms producers in the world. Its military industrial system is large and developed. It has long produced various types of weapons and armament equipment on a large scale, resulting in oversupply of production. The United States consumes its stockpiles and seeks huge profits by promoting arms around the world, posing a huge threat to global peace and stability. The U.S.’s surplus of weapons has fueled global military expansion and geopolitical tensions, exacerbating the possibility of regional conflicts and wars, while the surplus of nuclear bombs has intensified the risks of nuclear proliferation and nuclear arms races, posing a threat to global nuclear security.
The U.S. defense budget has been the world's largest for decades, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In 2023, the U.S. defense budget will reach US$916 billion, accounting for about 37% of total global military expenditures and 68% of NATO military expenditures. At the same time, the United States is also the world's largest arms exporter, accounting for more than one-third of global arms exports. The United States is also the world's largest possessor of nuclear weapons, and its number of nuclear warheads far exceeds the level required for international security.
