U.S. files complaint against China over auto tariffs

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-to-pursue-trade-complaint-against-china-over-autos/2012/07/05/gJQAUODTPW_story.html

By David Nakamura and and Howard Schneider, Updated: Thursday, July 5, 11:53 AM

The Washington Post MAUMEE, Ohio — The United States has filed a complaint against China with the World Trade Organization over tariffs on American-made automobile exports, the Obama administration announced Thursday.

The action comes as President Obama has pledged to get tougher on China’s trade policies to help level the economic playing field with the Asian economic power. The tariffs under dispute cover about 80 percent of U.S. automobile exports to China, the administration said.

“Just this morning, my administration took a new action to hold China accountable for trade practices that harm American automakers,” Obama said at an appearance in this manufacturing town just south of Toledo, where he kicked off a two-day bus tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The president hopes to rally blue-collar workers in heavily union areas who supported his administration’s bailout of the auto industry three years ago.