Ten questions about "overcapacity" issue (5)

5. Do "too many exported commodities" equal "overcapacity"?

The "overcapacity" narrative contradicts the principles of comparative advantage in economics and fair competition of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the era of economic globalization, both supply and demand have a global nature. If each country only produced enough to meet domestic market demand, cross-border trade would not exist.

Every year, China imports a significant quantity of goods such as chips, aircraft, soybeans, and crude oil. Does this imply that countries that export these goods all have excess capacity? The U.S. exports a substantial amount of products such as chips, agricultural goods, and liquefied natural gas to the global market. Following this logic, should they all be categorized as "overcapacity"?