Monday, September 14, 2009

Proportionality 

I thought the tire tariff row was bad enough, for the same reasons as discussed by many bloggers, but something in this Financial Times article jumped out at me:
Trade relations between two of the world�s biggest economies deteriorated after Barack Obama, US president, signed an order late on Friday to impose a new duty of 35 per cent on Chinese tyre imports on top of an existing 4 per cent tariff.

In his first big test on world trade since taking office in January, Mr Obama sided with America�s trade unions, which have complained that a �surge� in imports of Chinese-made tyres had caused 7,000 job losses among US factory workers.
It's the magnitude that caught my eye. We are celebrating the reduction in job losses in this country to only 220,000 workers a month. And the President is risking a trade row over 7,000 jobs?

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