WHEREAS, WE DON'T CARE WHICH THIRD-WORLDERS ASSEMBLE OUR TRINKETS:

Commerce Department figures show that, through the first 11 months of last year, China's trade surplus against the United States was $272.3 billion.  That's up from $252.4 billion for the same period in 2010, a 7.9% increase.

The Commerce Department has not released the December trade number yet, and some are predicting that China's surplus against us will top $300 billion when all the figures are in. Yet let's assume, merely to be conservative, that China's December surplus is zero.  If December's surplus is zero, then 175.6% of China's overall trade surplus last year related to sales to the United States.  That's up from full-year figures for the three preceding years: 149.2% for 2010, 115.7% for 2009, and 90.1% for 2008.

Notice a trend?  The Chinese economy is becoming even more hooked on selling things to the United States.  Why the big jump last year?  Because orders from the 27-nation European Union for Chinese goods collapsed.  And if Europe falls apart this year--increasingly likely--China will become even more reliant on the American consumer.

Follow @brothersjudd