Death By China

2012 "One lost job at a time"
5.3| 1h18m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 17 August 2012 Released
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In 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization with the strong support of a Democratic President and Republican Congress. Before the ink was dry on this free trade agreement, China began flooding U.S. markets with illegally subsidized exports while the big multinational companies that had lobbied heavily for the agreement rapidly accelerated the off shoring of American jobs to China. Today, as a result of the biggest shell game in American history, China has stolen millions of our jobs, corporate profits are soaring, and we now owe over $3 trillion to the world's largest totalitarian nation. This film is about how that happened... and why the best jobs program for America is trade reform with China.

Genre

Documentary

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Death By China (2012) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Peter Navarro

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Death By China Videos and Images

Death By China Audience Reviews

Btexxamar I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.
Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews
Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
my_perfect_mistake I just watched this documentary last night on Netflix. I just turned 44 last month, so I feel I can safely say I have been "around the block" at least once in this lifetime, so far. I also stay abreast of current events, and am moderately conservative, literally and figuratively. A few observations I have made in my lifetime so far: my grandfather on my mothers side was a painter. He raised 6 kids and supported a stay at home mom on a painters wages. They lived a modest lifestyle and nobody wanted for anything. My fathers parents both worked for Hershey foods. She was a secretary, he was a warehouse worker. They put both children through college. They lived an upper-middle class lifestyle. In other words, my grandparents and their families all "lived the American dream" (without college educations), and did it with little to no drama. Just another day in America. Fast forward to 2014. The US is a mess, in wars all over the world, record unemployment, supposedly clawing our way out of a recession, I live paycheck to paycheck with mounting debt... Why? What happened? What has changed?This movie may give some insight. As already mentioned in other reviews, it doesn't offer the solution. Duh... if somebody had a solution we would have good paying jobs, a manufacturing base, low unemployment, less people on welfare, children that weren't raised by "devices" rather than parents, etc. etc. There was a shift in the dynamic of the corporations catering to the share holders rather than the employees, which is explained in the documentary. The greed of the boards of directors and the share holders is what drove the jobs overseas to take advantage of cheap labor. That is an absolute no-brainer.Something else that is explained is once foreign labor is trained to do a particular task, instead of importing those widgets for their own consumption, they will just manufacture it themselves, essentially making US based R&D moot. How many products have you seen in the last few years that say "Designed in USA" followed by "Made in China"? Off the top of my head I can think of one huge multi-national company in particular that uses fruit as a corporate logo. China may not copy those products on a large scale... yet... but how many smaller companies that may not be able to afford hundreds or thousands of hours of litigation will just throw their hands in the air and say "I give up!" I have a protective case for aforementioned fruit-based companies product I bought on the big auction site. It shipped new from China, even though the manufacturer is a well known US company. It's a copy, because China doesn't play fair.I haven't even touched on the fact China is raking in US dollars and building an army that could theoretically be five times the size of the US military. Scary stuff.I could go on and on with this, but I would rather just suggest taking some time and viewing this documentary. Form your own opinion. If it upsets or angers you, take action! Call your representatives in DC. Vote - at the ballot box and with your wallet. Seek out American made products, they are out there! There is a 2 part review on here that gave a "no stars" review and a 1 star review. Please pay attention to that users name. It does appear there are some pro-China sympathizers/nationalists posting negative reviews about this documentary. Be mindful of that fact.
MartinHafer I am glad that a film like "Death By China" was made, although I sometimes disagree with the film in how they present the problems with the HUGE Chinese trade imbalance. While I think it's a huge problem that practically no one is talking about in the West, the film only makes a partially convincing argument. But at least it acknowledges that there is a problem.This documentary is narrated by Martin Sheen and is apparently based on a book by the same name. It contends that since China was admitted to the World Trade Organization, unintended negative consequences have occurred. US industries have either gone out of business or relocated abroad, technology has been stolen and China's civil rights abuses continue--all while they fund a massive military buildup. All this is undeniably true and the country has used some unfair tactics to keep this imbalance going (such as government subsidies to industries which, in turn, force their rivals out of business as well as manipulation of the Yuan). And, interestingly, reviews that hated this film completely ignored all of this--particularly the human rights violations. All of this should concern us and is fair game for the film.On the other hand, sometimes a bit of the film seemed like hyperbole (such as complaints about baby cribs being recalled--recalls of baby products have been occurring very regularly long before Chinese cribs came to America; the same can be said about the false Alar scare). Also the film is quick to spot problems but offers little in the way of solutions--though they are quite right that we in the West are to blame since we are living well beyond our means. Finally, I wonder who bankrolled this film--as it seemed to have an agenda (particularly in its choice of some of the interviewees). Although China is predatory in its practices and is not a particularly nice nation in which to practice free speech, the problem is not this simple and is actually very complex. Americans choose these products, government officials do nothing to reverse unfair trade practices, unions push more for higher wages and are at the same time unwilling to make concessions and corporations are greedy and only care about profits. So, in effect, it's everyone's fault--something this film didn't quite seem willing to say. A very sobering and interesting film but one that seemed a bit disingenuous in addressing the total picture. Still worth seeing, however.
Jennifer Harris There's so much truth has been said in this very important film. The only people who hate this documentary are those who stand to benefit from the erosion and the decline of the US in terms of economic power and national security. That means those who hate this film are the ENEMIES of the United States of America!The Chinese have absolutely no good intention or good will for the American people. They hate us and would (and have tried) do everything possible to harm Americans like putting lead in our children toys and poisons in our drywalls! China has flooded the US market with low quality products that would end up in landfills shortly after the purchase, creating an enormous waste of precious resources and energy. This film points out the short-term and long-term threats from China and its carefully crafted agenda aiming to destroy the US and topple it from the world power status. And is exactly what we are witnessing today! The Chinese government has plenty of spies snooping around in the US carrying out their missions virtually unrestricted taking advantage of the freedom enjoyed by American people, the freedom that will soon be taken away by the Chinese government in the same way the Tibetans have lost theirs. Virtually everything coming from China is either poisonous, fake, or low quality. And this includes the reviews by Chinese operatives seen here on this review board. To these Chinese there is only one thing that is important to them in their programmed lives: death to America! And this what Mao has brainwashed them to think. These elements are every where in America now! They are in the US universities, post offices, hospitals, government services, and private corporations. If you care about your own future and the future and security of the US, this is one movie you would not want to miss.
dahlswede The documentary "Death by China" (2012) based upon Peter Navarro's book by the same title offers interesting insights into the disparity in trade between the United States and the Peoples' Republic of China (Communist China). Narrated by Martin Sheen, the film presents statistical information in conjunction with interviews with business leaders and scholars to trace the history of growing trade disparities between the USA and China in a propaganda-style format. The documentary places the blame for the loss of massive numbers of manufacturing sector jobs in the United States during the past two decades squarely upon the government of Communist China and, recently, also upon allegedly collusive large multinational corporations which formerly maintained a specifically American nexus. Since President Clinton announced China's admission into the World Trade Organization (the WTO) near the end of his second term in office, a significant trade imbalance developed which now threatens the survival of many important manufacturing sectors in the United States.Although "Death by China" functions as propaganda in the sense that it draws a connection between the loss of many manufacturing jobs in the United States and ongoing blatant trade violations by the government of China, it does not overlook several additional social and political issues which ought to concern citizens of both the United States and China. The documentary specifically takes issue with Chinese governmental policies-- not with the people of either nation.Peripheral topics include: pervasive industrial pollution problems in China threatening the health and well being of the Chinese population, exploitative and corrupt Chinese labor practices, efforts by China to censor foreign companies, currency manipulations by the Chinese Communist regime, safety concerns about some consumer products manufactured in China and a reported significant buildup of the Chinese military following the establishment of peaceful trading relations with the USA. However, the bulk of the film addresses the diminished manufacturing capacity of the United States. Since economic imbalances sometimes represent a forerunner to significant geopolitical changes, people might want to pay attention to this unsettling documentary even if they do maintain a skeptical attitude about the trade disparity issue. The documentary begs a hard question: Did China's government join the WTO during the Clinton Administration in order to benefit the Chinese economy by engaging in fair trade or in order to initiate a form of economic warfare?