Obama camp defends China record

President Obama has a strong record of bringing pressure on China's trade practices, even if he has resisted labeling the nation a currency manipulator, according to his spokesmen.

GOP challenger Mitt Romney has made his vow to "crack down" on China and label the nation a manipulator immediately a central point of his campaign. The White House has resisted calls from members of both parties to issue the label, but that does not mean the president has been soft on China.

"The president has engaged over the course of his three and a half years in office in dealing with China in a way that ensures a level-playing field for American workers," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest Thursday. "The president certainly welcomes international competition, but only with a level-playing field."

Earnest also added that some business leaders, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have aired concerns about labeling China as a manipulator, due to concerns over what the action could do to the economy.

Campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki also told reporters that Obama is the only candidate with a record of being tough on China, and that voters would keep that in mind.

"There's only one candidate who has taken nine trade actions on China, one candidate who's held them accountable on tariffs and held their feet to the fire on unfair trade practices," she said.

Obama, and President George W. Bush before him, have opted not to label China a currency manipulator, despite frequent criticism that the nation undervalues its renminbi, making U.S. exports less competitive and contributing to America's trade deficit with China.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for the administration to get tougher on the issue, and have vocally called for China to be labeled a manipulator of its currency.

Obama said in September that the U.S. wants to continue applying consistent pressure on China to improve its trade practices, but that he does not want to "go out of our way to embarrass them."

"What we have found is that when we push them very hard but we don't go out of our way to embarrass them, we get results," Obama told The Plain Dealer in an interview "We're not interested in triggering an all-out trade war that would damage both economies. What we're interested in is making sure they're treating our workers fairly, and that's what we've delivered on."

The Romney campaign swung back at Obama's defense Thursday.

"Only one candidate for President has refused to crack down on China’s unfair trade practices, and that’s President Obama. Four years ago, Senator Obama promised to take China ‘to the mat’ over its unfair trade practices, but now refuses to declare China a currency manipulator because he doesn’t want to ‘embarrass’ them, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of American jobs," said Amanda Henneberg, spokeswoman for the Romney campaign. "Mitt Romney will declare China a currency manipulator on day one of his presidency, and put American workers first.”

This post updated at 4:57 pm.

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