Ryan Hits Obama for Not Being Tough on China
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Steve Pope/Getty Images(YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio) — Paul Ryan hit the Obama administration for delaying the decision to “label China a currency manipulator” until after Election Day, telling a crowd on Saturday in this Democratic county in the crucial swing state of Ohio that the president is insisting on “ignoring these problems that we have with trade with China.”
“The administration had their eighth chance to label China a currency manipulator — it’s due in two days — they say they are going to push this deadline off until after the election,” Ryan said at a town hall at Youngstown University. “That’s eight opportunities to say, ‘You know what, play fair with us, trade with us fairly.’”
“We’ve lost hundreds of thousands of jobs according to one study because of just this problem,” Ryan said. “Two million jobs we’ve lost, according to the International Trade Commission, because of one country, China, taking our intellectual property rights, meaning taking our patents, taking our goods that we make and copying them and selling them — that’s not correct, that’s not right, that’s cheating.”
Ryan is referring to the U.S. Treasury saying Friday it will delay the publication of a report that could name China a currency manipulator until after the presidential election in November. The Treasury said it wanted to postpone the Oct. 15 deadline to allow for the meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the G20 leading economies on Nov. 4 and 5, but it also avoids publishing the report before the election Nov. 6.
Mitt Romney has consistently called China a currency manipulator and labeled the administration as not tough enough on the country.
The study Ryan is citing, from the U.S. International Trade Commission, actually says 2 million jobs could have been created, according to the Washington Post, not that they were lost.
Ryan campaign spokesman Michael Steel explained from their point of view, “A lost job is a lost job.”
The GOP vice presidential nominee said his ticket will “do something about it” and “stop this kind of cheating from occurring.”
Mahoning County, where Youngstown University is located, went to Barack Obama in 2008 with 62 percent to 35.6 percent for John McCain.
No Republican has gone to the White House without taking the Buckeye State.
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