and i (of course) have been taught to boycott US products :-)
for the same reason (of course). little guys down the road making quality products by hand and then along comes in the big 'US Govt subsidised' guy and undercuts the prices such that the little guy down the road is put out of business.

i do think that there is something to be said for buying local.

i wonder how many products are made in china.
i wonder WHAT PERCENTAGE of those products are problematic
i wonder whether you would find a higher percentage of chinese products being problematic than other countries products
because there are many many many many many many many chinese products you would expect them to have a higher rate of problematic products. if NZ had 2 dud products in a year that might well make us worse producers than them ACCORDING TO PERCENTAGE

i do agree with the concerns about providing cheap products and people getting crap because they pay stuff all. and i do have problems with child labour etc (anybody boycotting Nike?)