Anti-China sentiment rouses U.S. voters

By Andrea Hopkins

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - It could be expected that Iraq would play a big role in the 2008 U.S. election campaign. But if recent populist rallies are an indication, another country may be rousing even more anger from voters: China.

In all corners of an overflowing convention room this week in the industrial Rust-Belt city of Pittsburgh, voters, union officials and company executives alike railed against unfair trade -- and demanded U.S. politicians do something.

"Our government refuses to stand up to the Chinese and make a level playing field," John Ratzenberger, a television actor headlining the event, told about 800 factory workers and concerned voters, to applause.

The standing-room-only gathering was the fourth in a series of rallies in key U.S. states sponsored by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a nonprofit group whose partners include the United Steelworkers union.

Voters were given a list of questions to put to presidential candidates who might pass through the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania in the run-up to the November 2008 presidential election, including queries like: how will you "hold cheating countries like China accountable?"

Few in the audience seemed to need such prompting.

"China makes these inferior products but they have all our debt so they don't listen to us for one minute," said retired General Motors worker Bernadette Koval, 66, a Democrat.

More than 3.1 million U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost since Republican President George W. Bush took office, most in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio, where next year's presidential election could be decided.