Obama Ad: 'How Can Mitt Romney Take On The Cheaters' In China?

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's reelection campaign released an ad Monday bashing GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his statements on China, the latest clash between the candidates over who would be tougher on the world's most populous nation's trade practices.

"Tough on China? Not Mitt Romney," a narrator says in the ad. "When a flood of Chinese tires threatened a thousand American jobs, it was President Obama who stood up to China and protected American workers."

The ad refers to a 2009 decision by Obama to impose a tariff on tires from China, which may have flooded the market and hurt U.S. tire makers. Romney criticized that decision.

"How can Mitt Romney take on the cheaters when he’s taking their side?" the narrator continues.

The campaigns have been sparring over whether Obama is too soft on China. While the president has pointed to the punitive tire tariffs and to his administration's official complaints about China to the World Trade Organization, Obama filed a new WTO complaint on Monday over China's trade in auto parts, which he turned into a campaign line at an Ohio event later in the day.