McCain, Obama campaigns clash on trade deals, China

By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would ramp up pressure on China and other countries that violate trade rules and put less emphasis on cutting new trade deals if he captures the White House, a representative of the Obama campaign said on Wednesday. "We have to see a material shift in resources within USTR (the U.S. Trade Representative's office)" toward more trade enforcement, said Lael Brainard, an international trade policy expert on leave from the Brookings Institution. She faced Philip Levy, a trade scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, in a debate over how Obama and Republican presidential candidate John McCain differ on trade, a hot issue for many voters in swing states like Ohio. McCain's top trade priorities would be to conclude the long-running round of... [read full story]