President Obama and his allies in the business lobby say they need export subsidies to compete with China‘s export subsidies. One problem with that argument: U.S. export programs directly subsidize China’s export programs.

The supposed rivals of the U.S. Export-Import Bank — the foreign governments the Obama administration uses to justify corporatism at home — are actually partners with American bureaucrats, politicians, and exporters who love the global subsidy jubilee that is export finance.