Funny, when I read this initially my first thought was: it would be inconsistent for the US, as champion of the free market, to attempt to impose its will on a country such as China by itself acting contrary to free market principles.<p>Then I remembered:  the US has not had a problem doing just this with/to other countries before;  for example South Africa. There were not only the apartheid-era sanctions; there have also been the post-apartheid era "negotiations" (for example, 'halt your satellite development program or we will oppose your entry to GATT').<p>It seems fair to say the US has used "steamroller" tactics like this before. So maybe the question should rather be: why is the US handling China differently?