Economy may affect trade issues

President Barack Obama, along with Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, talked tough about tackling U.S. trade issues with China on the campaign trail. However, like his predecessors, President Obama may have to focus on other critical national issues before China trade comes up in his priority list. The Obama administration did, however, recently announce that the U.S. will bring its first case against China at the World Trade Organization for unfairly restricting raw material exports. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission will rule about whether excessive imports from China will cause market disruption to domestic producers. For more information, see www.ustr.gov.