Trade with China blamed for soaring death rates among white, middle aged Americans

Increasing competition with China for trade has been blamed for soaring death rates among white, middle aged Americans.

A silent 'epidemic' of deaths from suicides, drug and alcohol poisoning within that faction was first highlighted last year.

But scientists were baffled as to why white, middle aged Americans were bucking the national trend of decreasing death rates. Now two economists believe they have found the answer.

Justin Pierce and Peter Schott believe they can trace back the uptick in suicides, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related deaths to 2000, when President Bill Clinton decided to relax the rules on major imports.

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