BEIJING — The United States on Monday filed a broad trade case against China at the World Trade Organization, alleging unfair subsidies for exports of cars and auto parts.
The case comes at a critical time in the U.S. presidential campaign, as auto manufacturing states in the upper Midwest like Michigan, Wisconsin and particularly Ohio have turned into crucial battlegrounds. But the case may not make any difference in terms of jobs for many months, as W.T.O. cases typically take a year and a half before a final decision is reached, and sometimes longer.
Hours after news of the American move began to circulate, but before the trade case was actually filed in Beijing, China's commerce ministry announced in a statement on its Web site that it was filing its own W.T.O. case against the United States, alleging unfairness in how the United States calculates the penalty tariffs in anti-subsidy cases.
The Chinese action appeared to be coincidental, as the Chinese government seldom responds quickly to trade actions — indeed, the Chinese commerce ministry statement made no mention of the American action. The ministry had no response all day to questions relayed by phone and fax in the morning about the American action.
The case is the latest sign of a greater willingness by Western governments to confront China. The American action on trade comes just 11 days after the European Union agreed to start the world's largest anti-dumping action ever, against imports of solar panels from China.
Mr. Obama planned to talk about the move Monday during a visit to Ohio, a place where the president is trying to capitalize on his bailout of the auto industry in 2009. A poll by NBC News, The Wall Street Journal and Marist College last week showed Mr. Obama building a significant lead over the Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, in Ohio.
In its W.T.O. filing, the United States accuses China of providing at least $1 billion worth of subsidies from 2009 to 2011 for exports of cars and auto parts.
While China exports virtually no fully assembled cars to the United States, it has rapidly expanded exports to developing countries, and those exports compete to some extent with cars exported from or designed in the United States.
Ohio has suffered heavily from job losses that have coincided with surging imports of auto parts from China. Auto parts employment in the United States has dropped by about one-half from 2001 to 2010, as imports from China grew nearly sevenfold over the same period, according to data provided by the senior administration official. Auto parts manufacturers directly employ 54,200 people in Ohio, and when suppliers like steel makers are included, the auto industry accounts for 850,000 jobs in the state, or 12.4 percent of total employment there.
But auto industry experts debate the extent to which those imports have been directly responsible for the closing of factories and for cutbacks at other plants, as ever-increasing automation has also played some role. The slowing of the U.S. car market since 2008 has had an effect as well, although sales have begun to recover in recent months.
Mr. Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, has repeatedly accused the Obama administration of not doing enough to challenge China on trade and currency policies. But the timing of the administration case, so soon before the elections, makes it likely that the Chinese government will accuse Mr. Obama of playing politics — an accusation already made by Chinese officials, particularly those with close ties to affected industries, over recent trade cases involving solar panels.
Chinese officials strongly criticized Mr. Obama last winter for not blocking solar panel trade cases against China, accusing him of playing politics with trade. But as Mr. Romney has called for a more confrontational trade policy toward China, the state media have become highly critical in recent weeks of Mr. Romney as well.
"It is rather ironic that a considerable portion of this China-battering politician's wealth was actually obtained by doing business with Chinese companies before he entered politics," Xinhua, the state-run news agency, said in a commentary Friday.
The Romney campaign has said that Bain Capital, the private equity firm of which Mr. Romney was a founder, mainly helped build companies in the United States, not China.
Asked whether the trade cases against China were timed for political effect, a senior administration official said by e-mail that. "President Obama has prioritized enforcement of Americans' rights in the global trading system from day one, and this administration has a consistent record of action to support American jobs."
The senior administration official was not authorized to comment on the politics of the issue and insisted on anonymity for this reason.
The Chinese case against the United States had long been expected by trade lawyers. The case cites a long-running legal battle waged by importers in the United States courts over whether the Commerce Department's methodology in calculating anti-subsidy tariffs results in double-counting for nonmarket economies like China's when imports from the same country are also subject to anti-dumping tariffs.
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK 17 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/business/global/us-files-wto-case-against-china-over-cars.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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