Obama’s Fundamental Shift on China

[Valin]

World Affairs :

Gordon Chang
11/15/11

Enough is enough,” President Obama said on Sunday, referring to China’s unconstructive trade behavior. The blunt language is in sharp contrast to his previous—and his predecessor’s—words about Beijing.

The tough talk on trade was backed up with a stunning maneuver. On the previous day, the president announced that the United States and eight other nations—Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Chile, and Peru—had “reached the broad outlines of an agreement” to create a free-trade area now called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “There are still plenty of details to work out, but we are confident that we can do so,” he said during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in his former hometown of Honolulu. The president indicated that final agreement on the terms of the pan-Pacific deal could be hammered out as soon as the end of next year.

The TPP, as it is now called, could eventually include Canada and Japan—but it will definitely exclude the region’s economic powerhouse, China. China is always free to join the talks, but the outlines of the trade deal—especially the restrictions on the commercial conduct of state-owned enterprises and the granting of state subsidies—were drafted so that they would be unacceptable to Beijing.

(Snip)

When Obama does something right..he gets my support.

H/T Bill Bennets Morning In America