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Obama, Romney duel on China trade
President Obama sought to gain an edge in the intensifying battle over trade policy Monday, announcing that his administration would file a complaint against China to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The specifics of the action — the administration is alleging that China is providing illegal subsidies to exporters of auto parts — are less important, from an electoral perspective, than the backdrop against which it is being made.
Mitt Romney has been seeking to take the offensive on the trade issue — with particular emphasis on China — since late last week, with a series of ads and statements assailing the president as being too accommodating.
In a podcast at the weekend, Romney said that Obama had “let China run all over us.”
Speaking to supporters in Cincinnati Monday, Obama described China’s position on the subsidies in stark terms:
“It’s not right; it’s against the rules; and we will not let it stand,” he said.
Romney responded with a statement in which he accused Obama of having “spent 43 months failing to confront China’s unfair trade practices.” He also asserted that Obama’s “credibility on this issue has long since vanished.”
Obama sought to frame the administration’s latest action within a larger narrative — one in which he stood up for American workers, whereas Romney could not be trusted to do so.
“He’s been running around Ohio claiming that he’s going to roll up his sleeves and he’s going to take the fight to China,” Obama said. “His experience has been owning companies that were called ‘pioneers’ in the business of outsourcing jobs to companies like China...Ohio, you can’t stand up to China when all you’ve done is send them our jobs.”
The Romney campaign clearly believes that attacks on the president for being weak on trade could help close the small but significant gap that Obama has recently opened up in Ohio.
But some observers argued that Romney faces particular challenges, in part because of his Bain Capital experience and his personal wealth.
Ohio State University political science professor Paul Allen Beck said that the whole nexus of issues around free trade, globalization and outsourcing “has generally advantaged the Democratic Party— but particularly so this year, because Mitt Romney appears very symbolic of the kind of businesspeople who took those jobs abroad. It’s very easy to pin him with the blame.”
Romney’s broader quest to boost his standing among working class voters was complicated further Monday by a renewed attention upon a covertly filmed video of the Republican candidate addressing supporters at a fundraising event.
In the video, published on the website of Mother Jones, Romney declared that 47 percent of the electorate would vote for Obama “no matter what.” He ascribed this decision to the fact that those people are “dependent upon government [and] believe that they are victims”, before adding:
“My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
Soon after the videos were posted, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina released a statement arguing that “It’s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation.”
Still, in the battle for Ohio, Obama also has challenges to overcome. Firstly, he has sometimes found it difficult to win over white working-class voters.
In 2008, Obama’s opponent Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) beat him by 10 percentage points among white Ohioans without a college education, even as the Democrat won the state overall by 5 percentage points.
Secondly, Obama needs to persuade the electorate that actions such as the most recent filing against China represent more than a campaign-trail ploy.
Melissa Miller, a political science professor at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University said, “If I were advising the Romney campaign, one thing that I think is a good strategy is to say [about Obama], ‘You’re a Johnny-Come-Lately. You’re a guy who is just trying to do something on the eve of the election.’”
Seeking to preempt this kind of attack, Obama said during his Cincinnati appearance: “We’ve brought more trade cases against China in one term than the previous administration did in two.”
But the Romney campaign showed no sign of retreating. On Monday evening, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) again accused Obama of having “repeatedly refused to stand up” to China. The Romney campaign also continues to air a TV ad assailing Obama’s China stance.
Some prominent players on the free trade issue offered praise, albeit of a qualified kind, for Obama’s approach.
Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, said with a laugh that he “would like to think we filed our case because it was ready, not just because it was election season.”
He added that “the government can’t responsibly put this stuff on hold for nine months if it’s costing jobs.”
Scott Paul, the executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said that, “If you are a voter, you have to take any campaign promise with a grain of salt. But I think one commitment that President Obama has kept has been to enforce our country’s trade laws.”
Adding that his organization was not in the business of endorsing political candidates, he added:
“I am glad there is a contest of ideas on China policy. I think it is a good thing for American voters who have been hungry for a long time for a more aggressive policy toward China.”
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