“President Obama will get an opportunity in the coming weeks to show American workers that he has the mettle to get tough with China when that country flouts the basic principles of fair trade, and it will be on an issue in which he does not have the luxury of ambiguity. Last week the International Trade Commission ruled that Chinese automobile tire imports were at a level that would ’cause or threaten to cause market disruption’ in the U.S. market. That ruling sets the stage for the commission to propose remedies on June 29 intended to reduce the number of Chinese tires imported into the United States. Those remedies would then be presented to President Obama on July 9, and the administration would have until early September to decide whether to accept or reject them.” (06/23/09)