US voters want tougher China trade stance

[alp227]

Source: Financial Times

A majority of Americans say the US needs to toughen its trade policies with China and is concerned that too many jobs are being “shipped” overseas, according to a bipartisan poll that shows high levels of voter anxiety about globalisation in the final months of the presidential election campaign.

The Mellman Group, a Democratic polling organisation, and North Star Opinion Research, a Republican counterpart, will on Monday release the results of a survey showing 62 per cent of Americans want to get tough with China “and use every possible means to stop their unfair trade practices”.

Read more: http://liveweb.archive.org/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8404dcf6-ce60-11e1-bc0c-00144feabdc0.html

[Skittles]

1. must be an election year

[Populist_Prole]

3. Yeah, talk is cheap

Day before an election:

"We need to get a handle on trade with China, the middle class is being pummeled by offshoring. "Free Trade" is killing jobs!"

Day after the election:

"Consumers will benefit greatly from the new trade agreement with ------ because they can purchase goods at lower prices!!!!"

This shit goes on and on and on....

[Skittles]

4. watching Reid saying we should burn Made in China Olympic uniforms was nauseating

talk about empty gestures

[humblebum]

18. It would be a good start. nt

[pipoman]

6. The one I love (to hate) is

the utterly ridiculous statement, "US workers can compete with any other workers in the world"...as long as they are prepared to live like those workers in huts with dirt floors eating the scraps of the 1%...such disingenuous hogshit we have to hear...now we better fast-track TPP..

[pampango]

11. German manufacturing "workers compete with any other workers in the world" and they don't live in

huts eating the scraps of the 1%. In fact they make more than American manufacturing workers and have much better benefits and safety net.

[pipoman]

16. I don't know the details of their participation

in trade, what protections they have in place, or any other details of the German situation. I do know the US details. Are you watching? Have you been? Manufacturing has left the US in droves and gone to places with no worker protections and no intention of ever having any.

[lapfog_1]

2. In an ironic twist, the poll was taken at the entrance to the local Walmart... n/t

[Skittles]

5. I heard a joke that they had to evactuate a Walmart because of a suspicious package

but it turned out to be just something Made in America

[dipsydoodle]

7. On the subject of which

[Skittles]

20. OMG

[SkatmanRoth]

8. Having China come up to our environmental practices would be of benefit to everyone

We only have one planet, and China is trashing their part of it. This pollution is spreading around the globe and will impact the world population.

[pampango]

12. True but per capita the US emits 3.5 times as much carbon as the Chinese. China's total emissions

are more than ours because their population is 4 times larger than that of the US.

You are right. The globe doesn't care where the pollution comes from because it recognizes no national boundaries.

[Left Coast2020]

17. Yes. And the pollution they generate has a harmful effect

...on NW forests in Oregon and Washington state. It does eventually make its way here. You can see how bad it is from the air if you fly in/out of Shenyang or Beijing.

[Deep13]

9. "toughen?"

What does that mean?
they want more restrictions, but the commercial press won't say "more restrictions" because it goes against the capitalist narrative. "Toughen" sounds nationalistic, so they say that.

Anyway,it would have been a good idea in the 1980s. Now, that ship has sailed.

How about this, only countries with environmental and labor standards at least as good as ours get most favored nation status.

[pampango]

14. "The U.S. uses more than 300 anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders about 1/3 against China."

"The U.S. uses more than 300 anti- dumping and countervailing duty orders to shield American-made goods, from honey to bedroom furniture, against global competition it deems unfair and damaging to U.S. companies. About half the orders target iron and steel products.

China accounts for a third of all U.S. actions on imports, the most of any country, including about 100 anti-dumping and more than two dozen countervailing duty orders, according to the U.S. trade commission.

The Obama administration filed a trade complaint against China at the World Trade Organization in December 2010 over its support for wind-energy manufacturers through aid tied to the use of locally produced content. China agreed to end hundreds of millions of dollars in such subsidies, the U.S. trade office said in June."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-29/u-s-wind-tower-companies-seek-duties-against-china-vietnam-1-.html
-----------------------------------------------
One of the first of these tariff orders was in 2009.

President Obama Opts for Import Tariffs on Chinese Tires

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/11/AR2009091103957.html

In one of his first major decisions on trade policy, President Obama opted Friday to impose a tariff on tires from China in response to complaints that a surge of imports had undermined the U.S. industry and contributed to the loss of more than 5,000 jobs.

The tariff will amount to 35 percent the first year, 30 percent the second year and 25 percent the third year. A federal trade panel had recommended a levy of 55 percent.

The decision represents a victory for the United Steelworkers union, which had filed the trade complaint under a section of U.S. law intended specifically to protect U.S. manufacturers from Chinese imports. China's government, tire importers and some U.S. tire manufacturers with plants overseas had strenuously objected to the measure.

"The President decided to remedy the clear disruption to the U.S. tire industry based on the facts and the law in this case," the White House said in a statement released Friday night.

[Deep13]

19. okay then nt

[PSPS]

10. LOL. Now we know why Romney took the weekend off.

[raouldukelives]

13. My mind was easily made up on supporting China years ago.

Watching the Tienanmen Square incident unfold as a kid and seeing no response from us really affected me. Learning about Tibet a few years later didn't help me any.
My history book told me we were the defenders of liberty & freedom in the world. John Wayne told me. My teachers, the talking heads on TV and my military family members and even the President told me so.
As long as it doesn't harm profits or even better, as long as it profits us, we'll support the idea of "freedom". Otherwise all I have seen from us is defending the rights of countries to oppress and enslave their citizenry for our benefit.
I guess all those Founding Fathers speeches and statements I learned as a kid had a lasting impact. It only sickens me more to this day to see our involvement in keeping people under our thumb that we should be helping to speak & live freely. Or at the very least, refusing to assist in keeping them in shackles.

[L0oniX]

15. Oh ...I thought you were talking about the USA ...o well ...about the same thing...

"defending the rights of countries to oppress and enslave their citizenry for our benefit. " or
defending the rights of the rich to oppress and enslave our citizenry for their benefit.