I completely agree. My point was more that the US want to keep China economically inferior. Of course it will hurt US consumers - toys and a lot of electronic goods are very cheap to import and can be sold cheaply. On the other hand, it undercuts more local manufacturers, but it's helpful to stop them from getting too bloated, too.
The primary reason behind protectionism is not keeping the other country inferior, it is to cater to domestic businesses. Sure free trade would mean more money for China, but it would also mean a better market in the United States. Both countries would benefit, so relatively the Chinese market wouldn't just jump up.
The idea that domestic manufacturers would be "undercut" or forced to cut jobs is very misleading, but it is the appeal that these companies use to try to get this legislation passed. In reality, even if a sector was unable to compete with a foreign market like the Chinese and was forced to cut jobs, the net job change in the country would likely not change much or maybe even grow because while jobs may be lost in one sector, the influx of goods and higher consumer demand will increase the demand for labor in other domestic markets. When you think of things like toys- that might be a shift from toy manufacturing to toy retail.
Steel is a heavily protected market under current United States' policy, but if free trade were allowed, we may lose steel manufacturing jobs in the US, but more firms would also demand steel at a lower cost. What do you think they will do with the steel? Build things of course, which means more jobs created. The high-tech market (computers, electronics, etc.) is a market that is not guarded by such protectionist policies and look at the outcome. American consumers are able to enjoy amazing new technologies created in places like Japan at relatively good prices. And yet, even without the protectionism, America remains a top company in the tech sector- just look at Silicon valley. Furthermore, we see a lot of jobs in America even from foreign companies like Motorola.
Protectionism is a form of corporatism that only hurts consumers in the long run. Free trade creates prosperity, protectionism doesn't. On a large scale, look at India and China before their current pushes towards capitalism- both nations had tremendously protectionist economies and both suffered from massive poverty and bad growth (relative to the more capitalist west.)
