How to Escape the Chinese?

If it were not for the economic expansion of China, there would not be the European Union negotiations on the free-trade agreement with the U.S.

Creating the biggest free-trade area in the world will give Europe and North America the ability to stop the Chinese expansion and win different economic deals. However, the Trans-Atlantic Free-Trade Agreement is also a huge challenge for Europe. American production is cheaper because work productivity in the U.S. is higher than in any country in the EU. Thanks to the mass exploitation of shale gas, energy costs less. No one protests that the retirement age is 66 for both men and women and that Americans have only one week of annual leave a year, which is why the U.S. has such a competitive economy.

Negotiations with the U.S. can wake up Europe, where every country minds its own business and seldom sees its interests in a mutual context. For Poland there is only one conclusion. We have to find union investments, which would incorporate our country into the European network of producers. So far, our exports to America, although quickly growing — by 28.5 percent in 2012 — are only at $3.7 billion, less than farm and food exports to Germany.

American union negotiations will not end soon, and there are small chances they will finish by the end of 2014, which is also the end of the term of the current European Union Commission. What is more is that they will be interrupted by all sorts of lobbies on either side of the Atlantic Ocean.

However, we should thank the Chinese for these talks because only in this way can we escape them.

Polish negotiators and experts, who will take part in the debates, should think of what they can gain. If the French had been able to wrangle something for them, we can also try. It is worth it to fight at least for Polish food because there will not be a second chance.