Thursday, July 5, 2012

Obama files unfair trade complaint against China on autos

This is one scary graph.
Here's good news: President Obama today filed an unfair trade complaint against China with the World Trade Organization in Geneva.

The Toledo Blade got the story last night (no doubt because Obama is in Toledo today):
Demonstrating a tough line on trade with China, the Obama Administration will file an unfair trade complaint today against China's new duties on some American-made cars and sport utility vehicles, including the Toledo-made Jeep Wrangler. 
A senior administration official told The Blade Wednesday the United States will file the case with the World Trade Organization in Geneva, accusing China of putting illegal duties on $3.3 billion worth of U.S.-made auto imports. 
President Obama is expected to refer to the WTO trade action in his speech today in suburban Toledo as he begins his two-day "Betting On America Bus Tour" through northern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. 
The enforcement action aims to force China to rescind the duties it placed disproportionately on General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC imports because of the 2009 taxpayer rescue of the auto industry.
The announcement from the U.S. Trade Representative is here.

As the AFL-CIO blog commented:
The auto industry, whose profits have surged since the Obama administration pushed through a federal loan package for the industry, has added 233,700 jobs since 2009. Good thing the nation didn't listen to Mitt Romney, who said he'd let the industry go bankrupt.
This is exactly what the American people want the government to do to keep jobs here and improve the economy.