The proposal by a United States workers union to ban Chinese-made tires has US President Barack Obama bouncing between two very precarious positions.

The high-level tariffs, which would effectively impose a ban, will keep Chinese tire imports off US roads, strip 100,000 local laborers of their jobs and potentially spark a series of special taxes by other nations and regions.

On the one hand, Obama threatens to sour China-US relations, which the US values in this current economic crisis, by approving the tariffs. The decision, expected before Sept 17, represents Obama's first major test of the White House's trade agenda with an economically recovering China.