From the moment we land in China, Americans must adjust to an aggressively censored version of the Internet, sanitized of the United States' most iconic brands. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are blocked. Google is partially blocked and sometimes runs through a ringer of digital interference that makes it painfully slow. The New York Times and Bloomberg News are off-limits, while The Wall Street Journal and other U.S. news sites endure targeted blockages of stories deemed sensitive.
This censorship is not just an inconvenience but also a reminder that many leading U.S. media and technology companies are excluded, or largely excluded, from one of the world's largest markets and this country's largest trading partner.
The U.S. should act forcefully to make this media freedom issue also about trade.