Guided by the mercantilist superstition that imports somehow are bad, politicians in Europe are trying to figure out how to reduce the amount of Chinese goods available to European consumers. To their credit (to offer a back-handed compliment), the policies they are advocating — for China to adopt European-style levels of income redistribution — would be very effective. High tax rates and excessive levels of government spending would hamstring China’s economy. The EU Observer reports on European efforts to export bad policy:

EU top officials along with employment and social affairs commissioner Vladimir Spidla on Friday went to Beijing to advocate improvement of social welfare and worker protection. … “If we talk to them about health and safety at work, about social security and they see themselves that there is a necessity to change things in order to have a sustainable economy in the long-term that will also decrease possibilities for social dumping,” said Mr Spidla, according to AFP. “If they decide to copy the European pension model, it means they consider it to be the best,” he continued. Social dumping – when countries with weak labour and safety standards export cheap goods to a state with more rigorous legislation and protection – is a strong point of contention between Brussels and Beijing. …Mr Spidla said he hoped the EU’s dialogue would “help China develop modern systems of social security.”