Online Gambling Foes US, China Trade Protectionist Barbs

While both the US and China restrict trade concerning online gambling, neither accepts itself as protectionist or in favor of closed markets.

On the eve of President Obama's arrival in China, a spokesman from the Chinese Commerce Ministry said the US is abandoning free markets and becoming increasingly protectionist. To the online gambling industry, such words are the equivalent of the darkest pot calling the filthiest kettle black.

Both the US and China have been among the most aggressive countries in the world at blocking the free trade of services in online gambling. So protectionist is the US that the Department of Justice publicly says that all forms of Internet gambling are illegal, even as online gambling on horse racing grows daily under domestic operators.

China has erected the Great Firewall to block sites that contain online casinos, among others. Censors monitor Internet usage to watch for illegal Internet gaming.

Yet each would present itself as a fair and open trading partner, shocked by the protectionism of the other. Chinese financial officials say the US is deliberately allowing the dollar to weaken to lower the value of the vast loans it made from China, causing speculators to artificial raise prices.

Obama has said he will work to maintain the strength of the dollar, but also hopes to address China's policies toward US exports.