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President Obama announced the filing of a new World Trade Organization case by the U.S. against China amid a wave of recent criticism by Republicans over the administration's toughness toward the Chinese government.
Obama, in remarks late this morning in the Rose Garden, flexed the muscles of his bully pulpit, and said the U.S. had lodged a WTO complaint against China related to its restrictions on rare earth mineral exports. He also pointedly criticized the continued manipulation of currency by the Chinese, which critics say results in an unfair trade balance.
"If China would simply let the market work on its own we would have no objections but their policies currently are preventing that from happening," Obama said, adding that the minerals, of which China has a near-monopoly, are crucial to some industries the administration is trying to promote, like hybrid cars and advanced batteries.
Obama's announcement comes as Republicans routinely hit Obama on the campaign trail for being weak on China as an unfair trade partner
Mitt Romney, for example, frequently criticizes the president for not doing more to stop China from keeping its currency artificially low, as he did at a stop in Ohio in late February.
"This president talks about it and hasn't done anything," Romney said. "If I'm president of the United States, I will declare China a currency manipulator and apply tariffs if necessary where they are cheating and taking away our jobs."
While the United States has reportedly been contemplating a formal challenge to China's rare earth restrictions for at least a year, reporters on a conference call with senior administration officials Tuesday questioned why the announcement was happening at this particular time, when prices of rare earth minerals are in fact relatively low.
The officials dismissed the notion that Tuesday's announcement resulted from political motivations, and argued that China could at any time threaten to halt supply of the minerals as it did temporarily to Japan in 2010.
"The fact that the price may fluctuate a bit does not take away the risk to our economy," the administration official said. "The time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining."
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Vote for Willard or Santorum and we will be at war with China in a heartbeat!
Back on Planet Earth - President Obama is doing what is necessary, speaking softly and carrying a big stick!
While the right wing clowns are running around in hysterics...
Funny how Obama is now trying to implement some new dealings with China ....
The exact type of problematic unfair dealings that the Republicans have been complaining about for years .... "LOL"
Good Afternoon Feisty,
I wonder how Romney will spin this one. Not fast enough? Not severe enough? Romney would do it better?
The guy is a total fraud.
Did you hear the story how "College is for snobs" Santorum is for a 250K cap for medical malpractice suits even though his wife had sued a chiropractor for $500K? Santorum testified that his poor wife was unable to campaign for him therefore deserved the money. When asked about it, he said it was a family matter - how nice!
But Feisty---how can the President ask the Chinese to "let the market work" when he's a socialist? Don't our Republican friends tell us he doesn't believe in the market? Hypocrites much?
bigbenalaska
you people b!tch when he does things, you b!tch when he doesn't. GWB was on vacation almost 3 years out of the 8. He took more days of than JFK was a president. Crap, GWB was on vacation almost as long as Obama has been in office.
Bigbenalska, considering who was your governor -the Quitting Palin - your standard for politicians should be very low.
I guess we have all gotten use to that low standard of politicians having Obama in office .... "LOL"
Funny how our debt is still rising at 1 million every 30 seconds ....
Someone is having a little trouble , to even slow it down ....
Who might that be .... "LOL" .... ??
bigbenalaska
if I remember corectly (I'm actually trying to forget), Failin' Palin was in office before Obama became the President so your standards were low then...
this is what happens when you inherit 2 wars on credit. Currently, we are down to one but if your people had it their way, we would be having three so stop you b!tchin'.
You can take it up with President Obama during his second administration, Ben. In the meantime, your pointless LOLs are appearing rather weak.
His pole numbers aren't looking too good for him ....
Going down and down and down ....
Rasmussen poll has him really low .... "LOL"
Good morning Feisty.
While I agree with you that President Obama is speaking softly and carrying a big stick, as a president should, it is (imho) that no one (even republicans) wants a war with China. The probability of that happening is remote at best.
Here is my question. Why are we developing anything for transportation that once again makes us dependent on another country for usage? We are still in the infancy stages of development of alternative vehicles, so why don't we develop a form of transportation that will allow us to be independent of other nations so we are never again held hostage? The middle east has proven that they can manipulate the world at any time by changing crude prices. If for no other reason, all they have to do is have one country say or do even a slight thing against another and the crude prices surge. Why we now continue to develop batteries that need minerals that are almost wholly exclusive to China is staggering to my imagination. Do we really want to be more dependent on China? If we continue on that path we will, in the future be dependent on China and at it's mercy for the minerals we need.
Funny how the GOPers whining today about China never asked President Bush to step in and do something.
bigbenalaska. Who created such a huge debt to begin with? Clue, Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43. Which party cut taxes, decreased revenues and passed trillions of dollars worth of unfunded legislation? Republicans. Which party passed the unfunded Rx Medicare Plan knowing that not funding it would greatly harm Medicare? Republicans. Who grew the size of Government without paying for the growth? Republicans. Which party hasn't been fiscally responsible in 30 years? Republicans. Republicans who whine about the deficit and the debt are the same ones who think tax cuts do not require off-setting spending cuts unless a democrat is in the White House; that tax cuts do not decrease revenues; that giving more tax breaks to the rich will eventually trickle down to the remaining 98% of Americans and we're still waiting for that to happen. Which party said that "deficits don't matter"? Republicans. Seems to me the Kool-Aid drinkers are liberals but conservatives who turn a blind eye to facts and repeat the lies because they prefer lies to the truth about their party.
nomoresameo. This is first generation of the product, that doesn't mean that future R&D will not find a better, more available substance that will work equally well. Tires used to be made from real rubber which had to be imported; now we have synthetic rubber. Think outside the box. What is used today will not necessarily be the product used in the future as technology advances.
I'm only hearing excuses from that post ....
Believe what you wish ....
Keep pointing your finger in some other direction ....
Seems to be the Obama follower trend ....
"His pole numbers..."
POLE numbers? Really, Ben?
President Obama's overall poll numbers are still better than those of the failures of the GOP and if one Rassmussen poll is all you are pinning your hopes on, you are headed for a big disappointment this November.
80 percent of Americans think they are no better off today than 4 years ago.
That's the roughest poll yet for Obama. According, to the libs things are much better.
NOT!
You can take it up with President Obama during his second administration.
Let Feisty, Bev or Amy know when you run out of rolling papers.
They can help you.
Rolling papers? You will be needing tissues the morning after the election, Rob. Lots of them. You will probably need Depends, too, but you probably already have a box or two sitting in the pantry, right?
NOTHING Obama does is right... he caused the floods in La., he is the reason why we were attacked on 9/11, he asked the sun to create solar flares, he caused the earthquake in japan, made mount Etna erupt, he asked mother nature for Katrina, he made the Massey mine explode, he caused the deficit, he is the root of all evil, he killed you dog, ate your cake AND stole your bike.
Foolish GOP... you folks are so hell bent on hating him that you can't even see your own hypocrisy and are willing to vote against your own best interests by wanting to elect a theocrat (Frothy McSantorum), a pandering corporate puppet (Mittens Romney), a delusional, albeit some decent ideas, Ron Paul and an ethically/morally challenged Adelson stooge (Figment o' the imagination Newton Gingrich aka Fig Newton).
I don't entirely like Obama and some of his policies but he is BY FAR the best person for the job when measured against the GOP (Grand Old Plutocrat) candidates.
Obama is just trying to look like the bada$$ President that he wishes he really was .... and not what he has become ! I am sure the Chinese are trembling in their boots. What in the world will Obama scold them about ... the next time he comes looking to borrow money from them !! LOL !!!
Barack Obama is a financial disaster and the whole world knows it.
Jody,
you forgot to add that they robbed Social Security to cover up the spending. Clinton gets credit for that one too but at least he left the office with something to show for and no wars.
jim-1455434
Obama got rid of the #1 terrorist in the world. Bushy couldn't do it so what does that say about him?
bigbenalaska
compared to Bush's approval numbers in 2008 (25% at some point) he is doing well.
Yes, much better to vote for someone that caves in, or at least bends in half ,every time a little pressure is applied.
Back in America, the failed President's approval numbers are tanking.
Can only imagine what hysterical Feisty will be spewing when Obama loses in November.
Bob,
In the unlikely event that our President loses reelection we will be here every day to make sure his replacement never gets a second term.
Bob McDonnell at his age and being term limited will be a great choice for Romney’s VP. After getting much National attention and losing in November he can return to his job as Governor and plan his run for President in 2016.
Now all he needs to do is get past that nasty little problem where he pushed for and signed a law that mandates that women have a medically unnecessary procedure.
You forgot to mention those numbers which show President Obama still beating Romney and friends. How's that working out for you there, Bob the mandated ultrasound, big, instrusive GOPer governor for VP?
Jody,
In the Republican Party, "VP" no longer stands for Vice President. It's stands for Viganal Probing.
President Obama still leads Romney, Santorum, and the other losers in the most recent polls. It is a good idea to remember that the GOP's pretenders have been blowing tens of millions of bucks while they have been campaigning desperately in the Republican primary race; a race that has yet to be resolved, by the way. Obama, in contrast, hasn't even begun to campaign in earnest and is still considered by the voters to be a better choice than his hilarious Republican challengers. It seems like the GOP wannabes have not been as successful in delivering a welcome message to voters as Bob would like to think.
In the Republican Party, "VP" no longer stands for Vice President. It's stands for Viganal Probing.
This is a Good one.
I totally agree, Good One Bayllie !!!!!
Dennis is wrong, as usual, and the rest of the parrots are wrong, too.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/t/story/va-governor-signs-pre-abortion-ultrasound-law-15872490
The ultrasound to be doneis an ABDOMINAL ultrasound- at McConnel's insistence, the more invasive ultrasound was eliminated from the bill. You are either ignorant of the facts, or deliberately lying. Either way, you are wrong.
By the way, that terribly invasive test you decry? SOP at better hospitals. In fact, we're it not for the ten week, highly invasive ultrasound performed on my daughter in law, we would never have known that the princess had the kidney anomalies she was born with- and she would have died within a week after birth.
I simply fail to see how giving INFORMED consent before undergoing life altering surgery is a bad thing.
Then again, I'm no liberal- so pretzel logic defies me. Still, I'll try to give you my perspective on this:
Suppose we are dealing with a 16 year old who has gotten pregnant - by definition, she is engaging in unsafe sex. Like most adolescents, she wants to eliminate the problem immediately. She does not want to tell her parents- so they would have no way of knowing what she had been doing to herself. She does not want to deal with reality- so she goes off to a clinic, has an abortion- and, please good lord, has no complications. She goes on with her life.
Ten years later- older, wiser, settled down- she gets pregnant with her "first" child. She gets that all important sonogram photo- and suddenly realizes what she did as a child.
This is a good thing?
Since I'm pretty sure nobody named "Dennis" has ever been pregnant, you cannot possibly imagine what it would be like to confront something like that ten years after the fact. Looking at a sonogram photo may- or may not- cause the hypothetical teenager to change her mind- but she would have made a more informed decision.
And that's a good thing.
Desperation must be sinking in with the nut job from NJ - been awhile since she had to play the princess card!
I distinctly remember, not too long ago, Donna rabidly defending Rick Santorums position on pre-natal testing...
Which makes this comment even more laughable!
Desperation is why Obama is making a totally useless complaint that no one will care about. His poll numbers are tanking again and he DESPERATELY wants to maintain his power at all costs.
How long before Obama is knocking on China's door for more loans ? I will bet it is long before he presents a realistic budget proposal to Congress.
Job1 and myvote,
I cannot take credit for the VP - I heard that on MSNBC last night but I thought it was funny so I am passing it along.
The piles of cash the 1%ers get from China may start getting smaller as China feels the pressure of the big stick and soft talk. Other nations are probably feeling the same and will increase President Obama's big stick.
You're half right .... China is feeling the pressure of the soft talk. "You Chinese are unfair, and I'm complaining. And if you don't fall in line, I'll complain louder."
Once again, the GOPers are a day late and a dollar short; and a brick short of a load. President Obama's administration has been filing complaints with the WTO about China and winning for the past three years. Those wins have resulted in saved American manufacturing jobs. Maybe Mitt, Rick and Newt should educate themselves first before shooting off their mouths.
Those who are not so blind , see exactly how and what all this is ....
Nothing but desperate Obama politicking ....
Obama is just trying to appear to be dealing with some of the issues the Republicans are bringing up ....
Big Ben,
I would really be interested in Jon Huntsman's thoughts on this about now. Really respected his views when it came to dealing with the Asian countries.
Hey ....
What a pleasant surprise ....
Jon .... ??
You have to be joking ....
How long was he in China and did little to make trading fair for us ....
That's why it is still such a big issue ....
He must have gone there to just play nice guy ....
phinephancy-4252115
I thought he was the only SANE Republican candidate. I actually thought Huntsman was very good during debates.
I also like Huntsman ....
Nice guy ....
But his work , for the time he spent in China , shows little production ....
I think he was there for about 3 years .... not sure though .... but close to .... ??
If republicans had been paying attention, they would know that President Obama has been dealing with the China problem for 3 years. President Obama has been addressing trade unfairness with China for a lot longer than these GOPers have been running for President. Maybe if they read the newspapers first, the GOPers wouldn't keep inserting foot in mouths.
Well Jody ....
Blame can go to both parties ....
China should get the bulk of it ....
Huntsman should have been in China screaming ....
Nixon opened the door to China, it was but a matter of time until the CEO's of your Industries moved all your jobs there to pay a pittance per hour and reap massive bonuses. Blame them more than any President, they abandoned you.
whats goin on Feisty
I remember how tough the two Bushes were on China. It was mindblowing. They enforced every dumping violation - every currency manipulation. Oh, they were SO tough. Every day W. just beat them down and they hardly exported anything to us during the reign of the Bushes. Now why Walmart went from mostly American content to virtually all Chinese content during their administrations just confounds me when I think back to how tough the Republicans were on China. They just beat China down. But the U.S. trade deficits are smaller under Obama. He must be lucky because the Bushes sure were tough. And I know Romney never outsourced anything to China. Certainly not. Decidedly not. I bet the Bain Capital people never told one of their corporate hosts (that they had their hooks into) that should drop manufacturing lines and outsource to China. I bet Bain never did that - perish the thought.
Nobody is talking about the past you dumb azz, besides, your history is as you remember it; not facts.
You libs keep praising your almighty Obama the Great. If he gets another term, the US will be done for; really!
Interesting that he wants China to "let the free market" work when he hasn't done that in OUR market.
You are exactly right. Do as I say, not as i do. President on training wheels screwing up again.
If there is a point of danger for Obama`s reelection chances, I think it would be Afghanistan, with this killing spree by the American soldier. It will take a very delicate touch to deal with it. Obama had nothing to do with it, but he is CIC, and he needs to be careful how he handles it. I believe he can do it, but that place is just not predictablle. At this point I`m glad none of the GOP candidates is the one in charge.
I remember an article on a small company in the Midwest that was bought by Communist China about 10 years ago. The company made "rare earth" magnets that are used for "guidence systems" like Minuteman missles. "Rare Earth" is important as the magnetic field is "consistent" needed to provide accurate mangetic fields used in Gyroscopes for accurate targeting.
Somebody tried to raise the flag, how China had obtained that small midwest Company during the "Get the government off our backs, let the market decide, what is good for business is good for the country, Profit. Profit. Profit".
Well, those days and those attitudes are coming back to roost aren't they? So today, China controls the "Rare Earth magnets" that the small midwest company used to provide for our Minuteman Missle systems that allowed ICBM's to accurately hit their target. (Unlike the USSR that did not have the "rare earth" for accurate targeting).
Thanks to our govenment in 2002 for making China capturing the "Rare Earth" needed for ICBM guidence systems and no one, in our government in 2002, lifted a finger to stop it.
Another Bush legacy.