Obama
and Romney spar over China trade practices
US
President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney have
been sparring on the campaign trail over trade relations with China.
BBC,
17
September, 2012
Mr
Obama filed a World Trade Organization (WTO) complaint against China
on Monday, accusing it of illegally subsidising car exports.
But
Mr Romney said the president had lost credibility on the issue of
standing up to Beijing.
With
November's elections looming, Mr Obama's move is seen as political.
Mr
Obama discussed the WTO action against China on Monday as he visited
the US state of Ohio, which has more than 50,000 workers employed in
the car industry.
'Harming
workers'
Ohio
is a critical state in the forthcoming elections, with success there
seen as crucial to becoming president.
Speaking
to supporters in Cincinnati, Mr Obama said: "Today, my
administration is launching new action against China - this one
against illegal subsidies that encourage companies to ship auto-parts
manufacturing jobs overseas.
"Those
subsidies directly harm working men and women on the assembly line in
Ohio and Michigan and across the Midwest. It's not right; it's
against the rules; and we will not let it stand."
He
also accused his rival, Mr Romney, of sending jobs overseas while he
was at the helm of private equity firm Bain Capital.
But
Mr Romney hit back at Mr Obama, saying the president had not done
enough to restrain China.
"Campaign-season
trade cases may sound good on the stump, but it is too little, too
late for American businesses and middle-class families," he said
in a statement. "President Obama's credibility on this issue has
long since vanished."
Mr
Romney has repeatedly accused the president of being too soft on
China.
Almost
immediately after President Obama's plans were revealed, China
requested formal negotiations with the US over extra duties imposed
on Chinese tyre imports.
US
'wrongdoing'
Earlier
this year, a new bill gave the US authority to levy tariffs on cheap
Chinese imports and backdate them to 2006.
A
worker on the floor of a car factory in China 16 August 2012 China is
America's most important trading partner and has the largest car
market in the world
"Through
consultation within the WTO trade dispute settlement mechanism, the
Chinese side hopes the US can correct its wrongdoing and properly
deal with concerns from China," said Shen Danyang, a spokesman
for China's Ministry of Commerce.
In
the latest wrangle, the Obama administration claims that China's
"illegal subsidies" in the car sector totalled $1bn (£600m)
between 2009-11.
The
US president believes that the subsidies encourage America to
outsource car and car-parts production to China, with these products
then exported into the US or other nations.
"Export
subsidies are prohibited under WTO rules because they are unfair and
severely distort international trade," said US trade
representative Ron Kirk in a statement.
China
pledged to wipe out export subsidies when it joined the WTO in 2001.
The
Obama administration has already filed two other WTO complaints
against China this year. The first accused Beijing of restricting
exports of so-called rare earth metals, used to make high-tech
devices.
The
US argued this has distorted the world economy by making it more
expensive to make such goods outside China.
The
second case accused Beijing of imposing anti-dumping duties on US
cars exported to China, making them more expensive to buy, in a bid
to protect local manufacturers.
Anti-dumping
duties are used if a country thinks an item is priced lower than it
costs to produce
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