Posted on 09/14/2010 2:50:14 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
Is the Administration in charge, or are the United Steelworkers?
For an object lesson in the importance of pro-trade rhetoric, look no further than the latest quandary in which President Obama finds himself. He has talked up his enforcement-centric trade policy for two years while members of his party in Congress have bashed China at will. Now Mr. Obama faces a union request for more trade enforcement against China at an inconvenient moment in Sino-U.S. relations.
Last week the United Steelworkers filed a petition with the U.S. Trade Representative alleging that Beijing unfairly subsidizes and protects its green-tech industries to the detriment of American companies and their union-represented employees. The filing falls under Section 301 of U.S. trade law, which would effectively force USTR to take China to court at the World Trade Organization if the Administration accepts the union's complaint.
The case amounts to a big trade-politics headache for Mr. Obama. USTR has 45 days to decide whether to let the case proceed; that deadline happens to be October 24, on the eve of the congressional midterm. If the Administration rejects the petition, Mr. Obama will irritate a key Democratic constituency right before an election. If the White House lets the case go forward, it risks upsetting whatever delicate balance officials are trying to strike in the broader U.S.-China relationship.
The union's complaint isn't necessarily crazy. While the details of the 5,800-page filing may be questionable, Beijing does offer a lot of support to its green-tech industry, and some of its regulations probably run afoul of its WTO obligations.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
ping
Bush protected the steel industry by adding tariffs on imports. Now we’ll see if Obama really is Bush part 2.
he has just about outsourced everyone out of a job ...great job O
And we outsourced the job of president to a Kenyan.
The funny thing about this is that WSJ is getting around, maybe, to recognize China does NOT practice free trade and is doing great by doing so.
Oh, really? You must read a different WSJ every day than I, then.
Until America quits racking up $600 billion in trade deficits year after year, we will continue to see our nation go over the cliff financially. Multi-national corporations and globalists love our free trade policy as we are the only country stupid enough to let our industrial base be taken overseas. All of the trade winners (China, Japan, Germany, etc.,) can’t believe their good fortune when it comes to us strip mining our economy. The damage done to our labor force and long term economic health is now undeniable and it will take decades to fix, if and only if people quit claiming what a great success it is to continue this nonsense.
The second biggest threat to our economy is people who think economic liberty is the problem, instead of seeing the obvious right in front of them.
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