By Dan Eggen and and Tom Hamburger, Published: June 1
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday disclosed selling his stakes in dozens of companies over the past year, including investments in several overseas companies that might have undermined his increasingly tough campaign vows to create American jobs and crack down on foreign competitors.
In Ohio and other battleground states, Romney is making an aggressive appeal to working-class voters by promising to punish China for alleged currency manipulation and violations of intellectual property protections and other laws. Criticism of President Obama’s handling of trade issues also is part of Romney’s offensive.
The new disclosure report shows that Romney has sold all of his private, independently owned stock in foreign companies. But he still has a stake in foreign companies through investments in Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded in Boston in 1984. Citing Bain confidentiality requirements, Romney has declined to disclose the nature of those investments.
The sales included shares in Chinese real estate and educational firms and in Wal-Mart de Mexico, which has come under scrutiny amid bribery allegations. Romney also sold stock in dozens of name-brand U.S. firms, including McDonald’s, Google, Apple and JPMorgan Chase, the records show.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/romney-discloses-sale-of-stocks-in-dozens-of-companies-over-past-year/2012/06/01/gJQA1wY37U_story.html
