Mitt Romney Supports Free Trade – and Trade Barriers All at the Same Time

Vintage Mitt in the Washington Post - On Both Sides of An Issue

The Washington Post has given Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney space on its pages to argue his case against the trade policies of China.  At least it is on the Opinion pages, and not presented as a news article.

After blaming the current economic difficulties entirely on Mr. Obama (who was that guy who came before him, never mind) Mr. Romney taps into the natural resentment of some Americans against foreigners and the urge to blame someone else for our own difficulties.  In Mr. Romney’s view, it is China that is the cause of all of the economic problems of the U.S. (that are not caused by Mr. Obama), and Mr. Romney will take economic arms against China to correct this.

Lest anyone think Mr. Romney is not in favor of free trade, he sets the record straight.  He supports free trade, is adamant about its virtues and just because he argues against free trade is no reason for anyone to think he doesn’t support free trade.

Understandably, some ask whether we should abandon the economic principles behind our historic prosperity. Should government redistribute wealth? Is free enterprise a flawed system? Should we abandon free trade? No, no and no. Redistribution is what once impoverished China and the Soviet Union. Free enterprise is the only permanent cure for poverty. Free trade has the demonstrated ability to make the people of both trading nations more prosperous.

Yes that paragraph is mostly about being against re-distribution of wealth. Leaving aside the erroneous view of world history that somehow Russia and China once had high income and great wealth until re-distribution changed that, a view of world history that exist in only the fantasy world of Mr. Romney, exactly how the issue of redistribution of wealth is relevant here is not mentioned. But obviously it is an important issue for Mr. Romney.   Mr. Romney is against re-distribution of wealth.  Since Mr. Romney has more wealth than the average American family by a factor of several thousand, this is not an unexpected position on his part.

[Editor’s note:  The Dismal Political Economist is incorrect in his classification of Mr. Romney as being against re-distribution of wealth.  Mr. Romney is not against re-distribution of wealth.  He supports things like lower taxes on the wealthy, repeal of the Estate Tax and other policies which would re-distribute wealth to the wealthy.]

Here is what Mr. Romney charges

China seeks advantage through systematic exploitation of other economies. It misappropriates intellectual property by coercing “technology transfers” as a condition of market access; enables theft of intellectual property, including patents, designs and know-how; hacks into foreign commercial and government computers; favors and subsidizes domestic producers over foreign competitors; and manipulates its currencyto artificially reduce the price of its goods and services abroad.

and Mr. Romney backs up his charge of massive theft of intellectual property by citing a newspaper article in the Boston Globe.  Wow, what proof!

In the end Mr. Romney argues that

If I am fortunate enough to be elected president, I will work to fundamentally alter our economic relationship with China.

meaning that if you support free trade, you have an ally in Mitt and if you want to restrict free trade you have an ally in Mitt. 

Mr. Romney has a valid point in his concern over China, but it is not the point he is making in his campaign piece masquerading as opinion.  The problem with China is that it will not allow U. S. companies to operate freely in China and it will not reciprocate with the U.S. by using its vast currency reserves to purchase U. S. made goods and services.

The problems of doing business in China are nicely documented in the Wall Street Journal.

Officials in Chongqing said Tuesday they are holding an undisclosed number of workers and have closed 13 of Wal-Mart's stores, pending an investigation of whether the company sold ordinary pork as a more expensive organic variety.

And the U. S. needs to insist on reforms in China if it wants to continue selling in the U.S.

Business Mitt knows this, but Political Mitt knows that the way to win votes is to bash China on the less important issues rather than the important ones.  And Political Mitt always trumps every other incarnation of Mitt.

Classic Mitt.