Reduced role for government critical

MITT Romney, the frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, is promising Americans deep spending cuts, smaller government, trade penalties on China, a new Federal Reserve chairman and sweeping deregulation.

The bold economic strategy Romney has sketched out in his White House bid seems designed to appeal to the radicalised conservative base of the Republican Party enamoured of the gold-standard ideas promoted by libertarian congressman Ron Paul and budget slashers in the populist Tea Party movement.

Romney needs their backing to eventually win his party’s nomination to face Democratic President Barack Obama on November 6. The former Massachusetts governor has won the first two Republican state nominating contests and now has his sights set on the January 21 primary in conservative South Carolina.