Thoroughly modern mercantilists

摘要

President Charles de Gaulle of France once refused to meet a Japanese prime minister, dismissing him as a "transistor salesman". Now, presidents of all stripes are making exports a central part of their foreign policies. Bill clinton puts in a word with the Saudi princes, and snatches an order for Boeing from under the nose of Europe's Airbus. Helmut Kohl flies to Beijing, becomes the first western leader to inspect troops since the Tiananmen Square massacre and departs with a stack of Sino-German trade deals; other westerners fume-outwardly about human rights, inwardly about lost business.