Bash Beijing with caution

Chicago Tribune: With the election only weeks away, it should come as no surprise that President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney have taken to bashing Beijing.

Attacking China’s export-subsidy machine is guaranteed to win applause at campaign stops in Ohio and other Midwest industrial swing states, where resentment of Chinese competition in manufacturing runs deep.

China’s efforts to promote its export sector with cash grants, below-market loans, preferential tax treatment and free use of government-controlled property make a worthy target. No stump speech in Cleveland or Columbus is complete without a promise to level the “uneven playing field” of trade with China.

That sentiment has a basis in reality. The problem, as we see it, is that neither candidate is willing to remind voters of the benefits that accrue to the U.S. economy from free trade, even free trade with China, and the dangers of an all-out trade war.

We hope, however, that Obama and Romney resist the urge to resort to protectionism. The U.S. has everything to gain from reducing trade barriers and promoting the international flow of tariff-free goods. Trade liberalization will create jobs in the U.S. Trade crackdowns can lead to a disruptive cycle of retaliation that hurts more than it helps.