Obama and Clinton vow to get tough with China

By John Whitesides and Caren Bohan

PITTSBURGH, April 14 (Reuters) - Democratic presidential rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton courted industrial workers in Pennsylvania on Monday with promises to crack down on Chinese trade and currency policies they said were hurting U.S. companies.

In separate appearances at a manufacturing forum, the two candidates said Republican President George W. Bush had been a bystander while China took advantage of unfair trade practices.

Obama, an Illinois senator, said as president he would threaten to limit Chinese access to the U.S. market as a bargaining tool to force Beijing to quit manipulating its currency.

"What we need to do is just be better bargainers and say 'Look, here's the bottom line: You guys keep on manipulating your currency, we are going to start shutting off access to some of our markets,'" Obama told the Alliance for American Manufacturing forum in Pittsburgh.

Clinton proposed a series of steps to strengthen U.S. trade enforcement and crack down on Chinese trade policies that she said were driving up the trade deficit.

"When they violate trade rules they should be held accountable," said Clinton, a New York senator. "We have done so much over the last seven years to advantage China to our detriment."

Obama and Clinton are contending for the Democratic nomination to face Republican John McCain in November's presidential election.

Both Democrats have emphasized efforts to protect U.S. jobs ahead of their April 22 showdown in Pennsylvania, the next battleground in the race and a state hard-hit by the loss of manufacturing jobs.