MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US presidential campaign reaches WTO with new case against China

Obama made the announcement while campaigning in Ohio, a swing state with a strong manufacturing base

The United States launched on Monday a new trade case against Chinese auto and auto-parts subsidies as President Barack Obama stumped for votes in Ohio, an auto manufacturing state that could be decisive in the November presidential election.

Beijing fired back with a complaint against US duties on many Chinese exports, in the latest sign of trade tension between the world's two largest economies.

The new US case filed at the World Trade Organization targets what Washington said were “extensive subsidies” to Chinese auto and auto-parts producers located in designated regions, known as export bases.

“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,” Obama said in the advance text of a speech he was to deliver in Ohio.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has accused Obama of not being tough enough with Beijing on trade and currency concerns that threaten US jobs.

“Campaign-season trade cases may sound good on the stump, but it is too little, too late for American businesses and middle-class families,” Romney said in a statement.

The decision to launch the case follows pleas from US steelworkers and other union groups for action to stop what they said was a flood of unfairly subsidized Chinese auto parts.

USTR said the targeted export bases made at least one billion in subsidies available to auto and auto-parts exporters in China during the years 2009 through 2011.

In addition, US trade officials said they are taking the next step in a separate case filed in June against Chinese duties on US auto exports by asking the WTO to establish a panel to hear the US complaint.

That case was also announced when Obama was on a campaign swing through Ohio.