In the past I have argued that even if we aren’t importing barrels of oil, we’ll continue to import things made from oil and from some other form of energy. From the Washington Post (emphasis mine):
If you’ve been to the mall lately, you’ve probably noticed that China is making scads of plastic. As the world’s second-largest plastic producer, it is furiously turning oil and petrochemicals into everything from lobster souvenirs to sneaker soles. By embedding oil in products, China is, in effect, importing oil on behalf of U.S. consumers — as much as 1 million barrels per day.
While China’s demand for energy is driving up oil prices worldwide, its cheap goods are having the opposite effect on the cost of living in the United States. A recent analysis by the U.N. World Economic and Social Survey suggests that Chinese pressure on oil imports may have raised U.S. inflation by 0.23 percent from 2001 to 2005, but cheap imports of Chinese goods decreased U.S. inflation over that same period by 0.28 percent. For the moment, the net winners are U.S. consumers.
Tyler Cowen suggests not paying too much attention to the numbers and instead focusing on the general point.
Some people will argue that “energy independence” does not mean energy independence. Instead it means not using foreign oil, which means “energy independence” is a pretty stupid way to say “not using foreign oil.” Even then, we are still, indirectly, importing foreign oil. And why we would be less concerned about importing natural gas from abroad than oil is beyond my comprehension.
I suppose, energy independence (the true kind) could happen. But it would require trade independence: complete and total trade isolation. If that sounds like a good idea, I suggest you go ahead kiss your computers, electronics, and probably 95% of the rest of your personal possessions goodbye.
Sources:
[WashingtonPost - Myths About That $3.18 Per Gallon]
[Marginal Revolution - Is China driving up the price of oil?]
[Think Tank - Must have misplaced a decimal point]
