Should U.S. manufacturers fear China?

摘要

It goes without saying China is on a roll. In 2003 it consumed one-half of the world's cement, a third of the steel, a quarter of the copper, and one-fifth of the aluminum. Automobile sales in the country doubled that year and grew dramatically the next. China has gone from being an exporter of oil to a voracious consumer. Its energy needs will triple over the next few decades, and it is moving rapidly toward the use of nuclear power. China's Gross Domestic Product this year will top that of the U.K., and is expected to surpass Germany's by 2010 and Japan's by 2015, and equal the U.S. GDP by around 2040. Some economists predict China's burgeoning middle class will reach 250 million this year and possibly 350 million by 2009, making the Chinese consumer market larger than the population of the United States.