Aboard Air Force One this morning, en route to Cincinnati, Ohio, Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest announced to reporters the Obama Administration’s newly-filed World Trade Organization (W.T.O.) action against China.

Said Earnest:

The practice of offering export-contingent subsidies is a clear violation of China’s WTO commitments and puts American workers at a clear and illegal competitive disadvantage.

As you recall, during his State of the Union address earlier this year, the President announced the creation of the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center, where resources, personnel and expertise from across the federal government were brought together to further strengthen efforts to advocate for American interests and American workers. Today’s announcement is a result of ITEC’s success in presenting well researched, well supported and thoroughly investigated cases before the WTO.

Today’s action will have particular resonance in the state of Ohio, where the auto parts sector employs more than 54,000 people directly, and where the auto industry as a whole supports 850,000 jobs in Ohio. This enforcement action, which has been months in the making, is only the latest in a series of actions taken by this President over the last three and a half years to ensure a fair and level playing field for American workers.

Later in the day, the United State Trade Representative's office held a press call to explain the W.T.O. case. United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk, along with Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economic Affairs Michael Froman, and USTR General Counsel Tim Reif stressed the importance of the disparity in China's auto parts sector over the last decade, noting the export of Chinese auto parts went from about $7 billion in 2002 to nearly $70 billion now.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) has been at the forefront of pushing for this action since the beginning of the year.