Barfield, Claude 150 Resident Scholar Claude Barfield

Sir, There is something comforting about Clyde Prestowitz's contribution ("Obama can help free trade with tariffs on China," September 11). It is reassuring that two decades after leading the charge for "Jap(anese) bashing" he has re-entered the fray with a new enemy: China.

Beijing can, no doubt, take care of itself but notice must surely be taken of the Orwellian phrase: "The real free trade position is to impose tariffs." Coming back to factual earth, his description of the safeguards rationale is inaccurate. Under general safeguards law, and under the special protectionist-fraught safeguards devised for China, Mr Prestowitz's litany of alleged "unfair" trade practices by China is irrelevant.

Unlike other protectionist "contingency" measures, such as anti-dumping actions, safeguards actions merely signal a time-out--our industry needs a breather to catch up. This brings us to the final irony in this particular case: the overwhelming evidence is that no matter what the president decides, cheap, low-end tyres will no longer be manufactured in the US. The real beneficiaries of a safeguards action against China will be companies in places such as Indonesia, Poland and Venezuela. The losers will be US consumers who will be forced to pay the somewhat higher prices for tyres from these substitute countries.

Claude Barfield is a resident scholar at AEI.