The Bulletin’s editorial about President Obama’s Chinese tire tariff isn’t telling the whole story. The United Steelworkers say Chinese tire exports more that tripled from 2004 to 2008 leading to the loss of 5,100 American jobs, and without the tariff, 3,000 more jobs could be lost this year. I suppose because they are union jobs, The Bulletin is fine with that.

It’s difficult to compete with slave wages and plants free to pollute at will not under regulations of OSHA, the EPA, the EEOC and the rest. A case in point reported in The New York Times in 2007 involved the recall of 450,000 Chinese tires sold to the U.S. at risk of tread separation because the manufacturer had ceased using a safety feature to prevent them from doing so. The gum strip agreed on with Hangzhou Zhongce radial tires at the onset was supposed to meet our federal safety standard. It was later found they were eliminated or insufficient. In typical fashion, the Chinese denied it, then later admitted that they had “unilaterally decided to omit the gum strips” and would not say how many tires were involved or what they would do about it.

China has been dumping cheap products on us for years while protecting their domestic market. If we could skimp on safety standards, pollute, pay employees peanuts and stomp on any worker rights, I suppose we could produce cheaper tires, too. Myself, I’ll stick with name-brand tires that feel safe and last a lot longer.

Robert Smith

La Pine