NECKLACING TRADE:

Will Obama rue his trade tariff on China's tires?: The president's claim that his restrictions would only further free trade falls flat. Here's why. (The Monitor's Editorial Board, September 16, 2009, CS Monitor)

In a break from recent presidents, Barack Obama has taken America down a new economic path by proposing a novel idea: The US can expand free trade by sometimes restricting it.

In a way, he's saying that less trade in some instances might mean more trade. [...]

But there's a big hitch in Obama's reasoning. The US tire manufacturers are against the tariff. They make low-end tires in Chinese factories while making premium ones in the US. Unlike their union workers, they, like many US manufacturers, have learned how to adjust to a more competitive globalized economy.