“We’ve brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate as the
last administration – and it’s made a difference.  Over a thousand
Americans are working today because we stopped a surge in Chinese tires.”–
President Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, Jan. 24, 2012.

For an America unemployed, China is as good a scapegoat as Goldman Sachs.
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama said that a two year old trade tariff
on automobile tires Made in China led to over a thousand jobs in the U.S.
tire business.  It did create some jobs, but not much. In 2010, roughly
51,600 people were employed by tire manufacturers, rising to 51,700 in
2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the
number has declined by the thousands since the tougher trade policy was
enacted. In 2009, 55,000 people were employed in the industry on average
throughout that year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The
industry has been shedding U.S. workers for more than a decade, dropping
from a high of 86,800 back in 2000.  Making tires overseas is just cheaper
for the big brands, and they have been moving production in that direction
for a long time.

The tariffs did ultimately lead to a 30% reduction in Made in China tire
imports from 2009 to 2011, but that didn’t mean 30% more tires were
produced in the U.S.  It just meant that 30% more tires were imported from
Canada; 110% more from South Korea; 44% more from Japan; 152% more from
Indonesia; 154% more from Thailand; 117% more from Mexico and 285% more
from low volume provider Taiwan, according to the U.S. International Trade
Commission.

The tariff will be up for review this year and is one of the most
publicized of the ongoing China-U.S. trade disputes.

Last week, Wall Street Journal reporter John Bussey spoke to a tire
retailer and a spokesman from Goodyear about the tariffs.  The consensus
on both sides of the business is that China’s low cost tires now cost too
much, and the consumers are paying the price for it. In some cases, tire
prices have nearly doubled.

The measure was meant to whack imports of passenger and light-truck tires
and give a boost to manufacturers and job creation in the U.S. But a close
look at the government numbers shows there has been no big boost at all.

“The tariffs didn’t have any material impact on our North American
business,” Keith Price, a spokesman for Goodyear told the Journal. “The
stuff coming in from China is primarily low end. We got out of that market
years go.”

Obama’s tariff has had only a marginal effect. And whether or not the jobs
that were created — a thousand at least according to the president — is
due to the China policy, or just a revved up U.S. auto industry is
unknown. The U.S. Census Bureau does not produce manufacturing output data
for the lower-end tires that were effected by the tariff. State and local
government incentives are doing a better job at increasing the
manufacturing jobs in this sector. Bridgestone is investing $1.2 billion
in South Carolina to produce high end construction vehicle tires. The
company said it would create 850 jobs over the next 8 years. Those
particular tires do not have Chinese competition affected by the tariff.

U.S. China Business Council President John Frisbie said Tuesday night in a
statement after Obama’s speech that the multinational lobby disagreed with
the president’s assessment on the success of the tariff.

“We disagree that the tariffs on imports of low-end Chinese tires have had
any positive effect on American jobs or the American economy. All evidence
suggests that the beneficiaries have been other low-end tire producers in
Asia and Mexico,” he said.

“Few issues loom as large on America’s economic and foreign policy agendas
as our relationship with China. This is the defining global strategic
issue for the United States going forward. U.S. exports to China are
strong and getting stronger.  American companies have numerous options
when China doesn’t play fair. Direct negotiation with China is the best
first approach to dealing with commercial problems American companies have
with China. But we also can use other sound legal tools—such as anti-
dumping investigations and World Trade Organization cases—and have done so
successfully,” Frisbie said.

The U.S. China trade deficit continues to grow month over month, according
to the U.S. Census Bureau.  Yet, China has been the America’s fastest
growing export market since it joined the World Trade Organization and is
the only major market since 2000 to have averaged the 15% growth per year
needed to meet Obama’s goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2014.

--
Obama's black racist USAG appointee.

Eric Holder, racist black United States Attorney General drops voter
intimidation charges against the Black Panthers,  "You are about to be
ruled by the black man, cracker!"

Eric Holder, prejudiced black United States Attorney General settles the
hate crime debate, "Whites Not Protected by Hate Crime Laws."

Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact, to
former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel of New
York's million dollar tax evasion.  

Barack Obama and Eric Holder,  committed treason by knowingly and
deliberately arming enemies of the United States of America through
Operation Fast and Furious.  Complicit in the murder of Federal employees
during the execution of their duties.

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