Barak Obama’s discussion of U.S trade with China, during his tour of East Asia, has been inundated with the same old platitudes about “resisting” protectionism and “encouraging” bilateral trade. Such is the consistency of the pleasantries emerging from the Washington and Beijing camps that one is almost beguiled into missing the hypocrisy behind this rhetoric. In reality over the last twelve months, the U.S. and China have implemented a series of tit for tat trade restrictions that have harmed trade between the countries- U.S. import tariffs on Chinese tyres, Chinese import taxes on nylon, U.S. import tariffs on steel and so on.

The story gets worse when you take in to account the domestic policies that have been implemented in order to discriminate against foreign businesses - such as the “Buy American” policy or a Chinese decree demanding local products be prioritised for government contracts.

All consumers and producers around the world want is for both administrations to follow through on their pledges to free and open trading and stop succumbing to domestic lobbyists demanding protection. After all, to steal a platitude from Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Prime Minister, speaking today after his talks with Obama, “Lively global trade and investment will help to overcome the international financial crisis and accelerate global economic recovery.”

He is correct but it remains to be seen if he, and Obama, are truly committed to pursuing the right route out of the downturn.