Look for — the Union label — on B. Obama….
12th September 2009
Trade lawyer Scott Lincicome catches the Obama administration in another late Friday news dump, this time imposing prohibitive tariffs on imports of Chinese automobile and light truck tires under section 421 of the trade law protecting American industries against surges in imports. It’s a somewhat complicated issue that is susceptible to the mystification in which the Obama administration wraps it. Lincicome links to the Wall Street Journal report with the administration’s defense of the decision, but carefully takes apart the defense.
Inside the mystification Lincicome unwraps is — surprise! — the United Steel Workers union. Lincicome writes that the section 421 decision forced President Obama to choose between the narrow interests of the USW and everyone else in America, the United States’ image as the world’s free trade leader, and the future of both the American and global economies. Obama opted for the USW.