Paul Ryan on Thursday began to criticize China as a currency manipulator, speaking out against the country’s trade policies with the same sharp rhetoric that his new running mate, Mitt Romney, has used for months.
[ . . . ]
In 2010, when the House voted on the Currency Reform Fair Trade Act, Ryan was among the 79 congressmen who opposed the measure. The bill passed – 348 to 79, with 99 Republicans voting in favor – but was not taken up by the Senate so it never became law.
The legislation would have given the president expanded authority to impose tariffs on the imports from countries that have “fundamentally undervalued” currencies. (Boston Globe)
Ryan’s team have attempted to polish this turd by claiming that the law does not need changing, just a more aggressive stance by the White House.
But we all know what’s going on here. Ryan is a mainstream Republican, and as such is not going to rock the boat when it comes to multilateral trade and the needs of multinational corporations. We’ve been over this several times when discussing Romney’s farcical China bashing.
Ryan has signed on to Romney’s team, and as such, he’s stuck playing the same game. That means trying to simultaneously use China bashing as a populist lever on the campaign trail, while at the same time, in those fund raisers and in meetings with campaign donors, reassure the business community that they really don’t mean what they say.
Right. Message received.
Something else along that line, Romney’s surprise appointment of Robert Zoellick to his China policy team.
Notable for quote wikipedia “September 21, 2005, Zoellick created a major stir on both sides of the Pacific by giving a remarkably candid speech to the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. In the speech, he not only introduced the notion of China as a “responsible stakeholder” in the international community but sought to allay fears in the US of ceding dominance to China.”
Anti-China hardliners are not happy.
I also find it interesting that some in the media are calling Zoellick a “China Hand.” Bullshit. Unless I missed something, the guy is a trade and development expert and therefore knows a lot about China from those areas. But a China Hand? I don’t think so.
Really, I never bought Romney’s populist act but I did wonder if his promises to get tough on China would produce some schizophrenic policies and statements if he gets elected (that’s a huge if). I was thinking maybe getting tough on China on some cases while letting the majority of his promises slide. Who knows, but honestly I rather have a lying, unprincipled pragmatist in office than a principled ideologue with visions of Utopia. Good thing we’re spared this election at least.
looks like you’re basically a lefty propagandist and probably on the payroll of the communist gov’t.
I wish. Those cheap bastards in the propaganda department haven’t paid me in, well, it seems like forever.