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| Obama |
Looking to bolster his standing with blue-collar voters,
President Obama has for the second time in as many months filed suit against
China for unfair trade practices on the eve of a major campaign swing through
the nation’s manufacturing belt.
The White House said the complaint, filed with the World
Trade Organization, accuses China of $1 billion in illegal subsidies for
exports of cars and car parts. It will be a focus of Obama’s pitch today on a
visit to Ohio, officials said.
In July Obama lodged a similar case at the WTO to coincide
with a three-day Ohio bus tour, alleging unfair Chinese duties on more than $3
billion in U.S. auto exports. The administration claims the subsidies and
duties have disadvantaged American companies competing in the same markets as
Chinese firms and imperiled U.S. workers’ jobs.
The latest case, demonstrating the power of incumbency to
create a fresh talking point for Obama, comes as he seeks to shift attention
back to the economy after a week of headlines dominated by foreign policy. It’s
also squarely aimed at voters in key manufacturing-dominant regions of swing
states, where China is seen as one of the biggest threats to profits and
growth.
The auto industry in Ohio, including suppliers of raw
materials like steel and plastics, accounts for more than 12 percent of the
state’s total employment, or roughly 850,000 jobs. Auto parts manufacturers
employ 54,200 Ohioans alone, the administration says.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who has also
been fiercely courting the same voters, called Obama’s announcement too little
too late.
“Campaign-season trade cases may sound good on the stump,
but it is too little, too late for American businesses and middle-class
families,” Romney said in a statement. “President Obama’s credibility on this
issue has long since vanished. I will not wait until the last months of my
presidency to stand up to China, or do so only when votes are at stake. ”
His campaign has been attacking Obama on the stump and in
television ads as failing to take a harder line against the Asian power.
The latest Romney ad, airing in Ohio and other
battlegrounds, suggests Obama has not aggressively held China to account under
international law. “Trade has to work for America. That means crack down on
cheaters like China,” Romney says in the ad. The Republican’s campaign also
claims skyrocketing debt during Obama’s term has made the U.S. more beholden to
the China, the top foreign lender.
“Four years ago, candidate Obama promised Ohioans he
wouldn’t run up the debt by borrowing from China. As he returns to Columbus
today, the President has amassed over $5 trillion in new debt that’s held by
countries like China and… has shown an abject failure of leadership on the
issue,” said Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg.
The Obama campaign is running advertisements rebutting
Romney’s claims, portraying the former Bain Capital corporate buyout specialist
as personally working to outsource U.S. work to China while retaining financial
investments in Chinese companies.
The candidates’ jabs at each other over China policy come as
Obama appears to hold a solid lead over Romney in crucial Ohio, according to
several recent polls. No candidate for president since 1960 has won the White
House without winning Ohio.
Likely Ohio voters prefer Obama to Romney by a 50 to 43
percent margin in the latest Wall Street Journal/Marist/NBC survey. The
president also holds an edge on handling of the economy, with voters seeing him
as more likely to do a better job than Romney, 48 to 44 percent. Obama has
filed a total of eight cases against China at the WTO during his first term.
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