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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2010 > September > 10
Friday, September 10, 2010
Brown, union say China violated World Trade Organization rules
By Steve Bennish Staff Writer
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown said he’s siding with the United Steelworkers in a petition they filed Thursday Sept. 9 accusing China of violating World Trade Organization rules by subsidizing exports of clean energy equipment.
“Next week will be the tenth anniversary of Congress passing permanent normal trade relations with China, paving the way for China’s membership in the World Trade Organization,” Brown said. “ Back then, advocates in both parties said WTO membership would ensure China played by the rules. If only that were the case. Since receiving PNTR status and the benefits of WTO membership, China has fought off fair competition while building market share on wind and solar products and technologies.”
Brown said the situation is costing Ohio jobs and revenue.
“There is nothing normal or fair about the way China trades. If we are going to compete in the global clean energy manufacturing industry, we need strong trade enforcement. Every day we delay enforcing trade rules, China spends $51 million a day to speed past us in the race to lead the world in clean energy manufacturing, while elbowing competition out of the way through unfair subsidies and discriminatory tactics.”
Brown said he urges “the Administration to work without delay alongside workers and businesses to challenge China’s trade practices at the WTO. Clean energy represents the future of manufacturing. Acting now means that we won’t displace America’s dependence on foreign oil for a dependence on Chinese-made clean energy technology.”
Brown said that with more than 70 percent of the components of clean energy systems produced outside the U.S., he’s “fighting to bolster domestic production of clean energy components and to make Ohio the Silicon Valley of Clean Energy Manufacturing.”
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TweetClinton to rally for Strickland outside debate
As crews and candidates prepare for the first gubernatorial debate between Republican John Kasich and Democrat Ted Strickland on Tuesday, Sept. 14, former President Bill Clinton will be just outside the debate venue rallying Strickland supporters.
Clinton is scheduled to hold a 5 p.m. campaign fundraiser for Strickland in downtown Columbus and then scoot over to Genoa Park, just outside COSI, at 5:30 p.m. for a pre-debate rally.
The hour-long debate starts at 8 p.m. and will be televised live on WBNS-TV and the Ohio News Network.
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TweetUPDATED with Strickland response - GOP rebukes Strickland on union rally “rant”
Ohio Republican Chairman Kevin DeWine and the Republican Governors Association have rebuked Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland for a Strickland outburst at a union rally and called for an apology.
Strickland said on Friday, Sept. 10, that there will be no apology and there is no need for one.
At the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic the governor said the GOP “has been taken over by the zealots, extremists, by the radicals, by the reckless..
“And they don’t seem to like Ohio very much and, quite frankly, they act as if they don’t like America very much.”
Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine of Fairborn used a press release to scold Strickland, who’s running for re-election against Republican John Kasich, a former U.S. House member from the Columbus area.
“I realize the governor is probably very frustrated by the fact that he’s losing, but it’s pretty sad to see him resort to the angry, divisive tactics that have defined his campaign this year.
“This time he’s gone too far, and he owes a lot of Ohioans an apology.”
RGA spokesman Chris Schrimpf used a press release to call it Strickland’s “Howard Dean moment,” a reference to Dean’s scream after losing Iowa’s Democratic caucuses in 2004.
Strickland cited former President Harry Truman in responding.
“Let me quote Harry Truman. Harry Truman said, ‘I don’t give them hell, I just tell them the truth and they think it’s hell.’
“And all I’m doing is telling the truth and I have no apologies to make whatsoever.”
Strickland said that Kasich repeatedly has praised Florida and Nevada as better places than Ohio for business and that state Auditor Mary Taylor, Kasich’s lieutenant governor running mate, even has said that as a CPA she advised successful business people to leave Ohio.
“That sounds as if they don’t like Ohio very much and so all I’m doing is telling the truth,” Strickland said.
Kasich and Taylor also have said they want to change Ohio’s tax and regulatory systems to make them more appealing to business.
The Ohio GOP and the RGA both posted an excerpt from the speech on YouTube.
Here’s the video:
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