OTHER OPINIONS : Caving to Big Labor

— This didn't take long. : President Barack Obama imposed punitive tariffs on Chinesemade lower-price tires, and : China had announced it was considering tit-for-tat tariffs on imports of U.S. chicken and auto products.

It's hard to see this as anything other than Obama currying favor with organized labor and Rust Belt Democrats at a critical point in his drive for health-care reform. :

The White House, for its part, insists that it is only enforcing trade laws already onthe book. :

Trade issues here and in China are hardly immune to domestic political considerations and are subject to considerable poker playing by trade negotiators. The tire tariffs will surely come up at the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh later this week when Obama meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Commercial relations between the United States and China are too important to allow a trade dispute to escalate into a trade war.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 09/22/2009

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