This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Wednesday, October 10th, 2012. I'm Caleb Brown.

The U.S.-China relationship is perhaps the most important bilateral relationship for the

United States, but the country that serves as the U.S. banker,

major trading partner and military competitor didn't appear to warrant much of a

discussion for Mitt Romney's big foreign policy speech this week.

Justin Logan, Director of Foreign Policy Studies, at the Cato Institute, comments.

In his three-plus years in office, President Obama has instituted what might be termed tough, punitive policies towards China, at least with

respect to trade, and Mitt Romney in some ways seems to want to do have the Obama policy only more with respect to China.

How fair is that?

Well both candidates I think have tried to get tough on China or at least to look tough on China. That's been a big thing in the

election. There's been a certain amount of one-upmanship with respect to ads talking

about Governor Romney's history at Bain Capital, whether or not jobs

were offshore to China, and then there's been fire returned from Governor Romney against President Obama, so there has been a certain

backdrop in the campaign of Get Tough on China.

And look, in a certain demagogic political sense that's intelligible, right?

The economy has been bumping along for three plus years.

And there is a tendency, of course, not to look at any structural problems within our own economy

or decisions that were made poorly but rather there must be some foreign

meany out there that did this to us and if you look at data, the public is kind of alarmingly alarmed about China.

So in a crude political sense, it's intelligible what they're doing, but there has been a considerable and for you know sort of a

policy wonk a fairly alarming amount of demagoguery surrounding the China

issue so far in the campaign. It seems like Mitt Romney though is throwing out what

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