Former Bush Trade Rep. Says Whitehouse ‘Pulling its Punches' on China.

Former U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab talked about China's currency policy and U.S.-China trade relations, with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television's InBusiness today. The yuan strengthened to a 17 year-high on speculation the Chinese government will yield to increased political pressure from the U.S., which is seeking a faster appreciation of the currency. Schwab not only agrees that China is manipulating its currency by keeping it artificially lower, thus making U.S. goods more expensive, but is guilty of other trade violations. Schwab said China is violating trade agreements by limiting market access, intellectual property violations, and indigenous innovations. Schwab said that, “Timothy Geither is pulling his punches,” concerning the lack of action taken by the Obama Administration. Ironically, when Schwab worked as a trade representative for the George W. Bush Administration, she didn't do much either to protest China's trade violations. However, Schwab doesn't seem to be politically motivated, rather she appeared to be sincere in her concerns. Schwab said the U.S should file trade sanctions with the World Trade Organization rather than take up legislation against China. “Unilateral legislation is not the answer,” she said. What can be done? I believe the U.S should convene a panel of trade experts and look at length into every trade agreement we have, industry by industry, to find out exactly how our trading partners are cheating on their trade agreements. In some cases, our Asian trading partners are keeping U.S. products out by using non tariff barriers. The U.S. can either duplicate these methods, to retaliate, or file sanctions. It stands to reason that if China or any other nation is getting away with using non tariff barriers, we can play the same game. What we should not do is start a trade war by heavily taxing imports. We should go to the bargaining table with an industry by industry strategy, rather than what the U.S. has done in the past, which is bargain with only a vague notion of increasing free trade.