As the Mitt Romney presidential tour embarks on a trek throughout Ohio this week, the campaign has released another "anti-China message," according to The Politico's Alexander Burns.

The ad takes aim at what it sees as President Obama's lack of action on China:

Fewer Americans are working than when President Obama took office – it doesn’t have to be this way.
President Obama has failed to stand up to China even as they steal American ideas and technology.
President Obama had years to stand up to China – Mitt Romney will do it on Day One.

At the same time as Romney hammers away at the predatory trade practices by China that have hurt U.S. workers, he's facing criticism for some contradictory business practices.  As Laura Clawson points out in Daily Kos, Romney's investments in a "blind" trust were divested on June 15 from a Chinese online video company that frequently pirates American content.

Clawson says she finds it ironic that Romney is now courting factory workers in Ohio after opposing relief for U.S. tire workers in 2010.  Likewise, allegations of outsourcing during Romney's tenure at Bain Capital aren't helpful:

Romney's efforts to paint the president as weak on China are seriously blunted by two things Obama pointed out in a recent Ohio campaign appearance: "you can’t stand up to China when all you’ve done is send them our jobs" as Romney has done in his career in private equity, and "We’ve brought more trade cases against China in one term than the previous administration did in two. And every case we’ve brought that's been decided, we won."

With both candidates campaigning to show that they can be tough on China, U.S. manufacturing stands to potentially benefit.