Jeff Jacoby looks into the question: What’s up with Romney bashing China so much? Is this his way of defying the heartless capitalist stereotype?
Because Romney certainly didn’t take this anti-China posture in his book, No Apology:
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Nowhere in his book does he characterize China as a hostile trade foe, or condemn its currency policies as “cheating,’’ or call for the imposition of protectionist tariffs.
Yet on the presidential campaign trail these days, the former Massachusetts governor routinely slams the Chinese government, vowing that on “Day One’’ as president he’ll designate China a “currency manipulator’’ and impose tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States. “We’ve allowed China to just walk all over us,’’ Romney fumed during an interview with Sean Hannity this week. He dismisses concerns about starting a trade war with America’s largest foreign creditor. The only “alternative to confronting China,’’ he wrote this month , “is allowing the Chinese to take by trade surrender what we fear to lose in a trade war.’’
Whipping up resentment against foreign trading partners is a time-honored way for candidates of both parties to score cheap political points. Romney’s China-bashing today is reminiscent of the Japan-bashing that candidates like Pat Buchanan and Dick Gephardt sought to ride to the White House a generation ago. What makes this candidate’s protectionist rabble-rousing so disappointing is that he knows perfectly well how superficial and spurious it is.
Yet on the presidential campaign trail these days, the former Massachusetts governor routinely slams the Chinese government, vowing that on “Day One’’ as president he’ll designate China a “currency manipulator’’ and impose tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States. “We’ve allowed China to just walk all over us,’’ Romney fumed during an interview with Sean Hannity this week. He dismisses concerns about starting a trade war with America’s largest foreign creditor. The only “alternative to confronting China,’’ he wrote this month , “is allowing the Chinese to take by trade surrender what we fear to lose in a trade war.’’
Whipping up resentment against foreign trading partners is a time-honored way for candidates of both parties to score cheap political points. Romney’s China-bashing today is reminiscent of the Japan-bashing that candidates like Pat Buchanan and Dick Gephardt sought to ride to the White House a generation ago. What makes this candidate’s protectionist rabble-rousing so disappointing is that he knows perfectly well how superficial and spurious it is.
In fact, Romney’s book takes nearly the opposite appproach:
In “No Apology,’’ Romney emphasized protectionism’s self-destructiveness….Far from endorsing vigorous presidential action against foreign competitors, he faulted George W. Bush and Barack Obama for yielding to protectionist special pleading. The Obama administration’s punitive tariffs on Chinese tires may have been “good politics,’’ Romney declared, “but it is decidedly bad for the nation and our workers. Protectionism stifles productivity.’’
