Today's New York Times has an editorial on Chinese product safety that succinctly makes two great points: China needs a better regulatory system, and American needs to use its regulatory system to better monitor Chinese products. "What China needs is an effective and transparent regulatory system to enforce product safety standards," the editorial states. As Reg•Watch blogged in June, relative to China, America's regulatory system is stellar. While America can't match the cheapness or enormity of the Chinese workforce, we can be a leader in safety. Might the growing commodities of safety and reliability begin to bring the trade balance back toward America's favor? Of course, as The Times points out, that's an uphill battle as long as President Bush occupies the White House: American regulators, who are constantly playing catch-up, must also do a lot more to ensure the safety of Chinese-made goods, sending their own personnel to China to perform inspections of factories and test goods before they are shipped. Unfortunately, the Bush administration, which disdains America's regulatory system, has cut personnel and squeezed budgets at both the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, impairing their ability to monitor the quality of products made in China or, indeed, anywhere else. At a time of ever-rising imports, the F.D.A. has lost hundreds of food scientists and field inspectors. And the White House is proposing cutting the agency's budget next year, in real terms. The C.P.S.C., which sets safety standards for toys and many other consumer products, must inspect tens of billions of dollars worth of goods sold every year with only about 100 field investigators and compliance personnel. And it has suffered a 10 percent cut in its budget in the last two years.