Ryan, Brown praise Obama’s China trade complaint

Ryan, Brown praise Obama’s China trade complaint

YOUNGSTOWN — U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, longtime vocal opponents of China’s trade policies, praised the decision today by President Barack Obama, a fellow Democrat, to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization over Chinese subsidies to auto and auto-parts exporters.

“This is something we’ve been lobbying the president for a long time,” said Ryan of Niles, D-17th.

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, called the announcement “campaign-driven,” and that Obama hasn’t “aggressively [pursued] countries like China who have used unfair subsidies and trade barriers to disadvantage American workers.”

Brown and Ryan have urged the president since March to file the complaint. Brown said China’s “cheating in the auto parts trade places more than 1.6 million American jobs at risk.”

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