Earlier this week, AAM Senior Analyst Kerri Houston Toloczko published an editorial on ManufactureThis that detailed some very legitimate concerns about China's expanding automotive sector. Kerri noted that, as with previous unsafe products from China (tainted food and medicines, toxic drywall, etc.), the new line of Chery Chinese cars were built on "stolen designs, flimsy construction." Amazingly though, that cautionary message has been deemed "protectionist" by the good folks at Just-Autos.com. This is the state that we've reached in modern discourse, wherein criticism of a product that is built via heavy subsidies, labor abuse, lax adherence to environmental regulations, and illegal currency manipulation (and which contributes to 100,000 traffic fatalities annually in its home market), is viewed as "protectionist." The mind boggles. The car in question has helped make China the world leader in annual traffic deaths. And China also has a track record for producing shoddy products, tainted medicines, unsafe food, and lead-painted toys. The flimsy, knock-off cars they produce appear just as unreliable and unsafe. Raising such concerns shouldn't be viewed as protectionist. In fact, stating such concerns should be encouraged. That's what a free market most needs-- open competition for ideas and rising product quality. Furthermore, China is the most mercantilist, protectionist nation on earth. Their catalogue of trade barriers, including the aforementioned illegal currency manipulation, is fairly stunning, with the WTO making frequent note of these impediments. If trying to protect consumers' lives is considered the new "protectionism," we're in bigger trouble than just the current recession.