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Steelworkers Win First Step With Bush Move to Address China’s Paper Imports |
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For years, working families and their unions have argued that China illegally subsidizes its exports through government programs, tax rebates, and shady banking practices. These unfair trade practices lead to job loss and lower wages for U.S. workers.
Now for the first time, the Bush administration is taking steps that could possibly lead to new duties on imports of at least one Chinese product—high gloss paper. On Friday, the Commerce Department decided that countervailing duty law could be applied to non-market economies, such as China. The law allows the U.S. to impose tariffs or duties on imports that are illegally subsidized by their government.
The decision came in response to challenges brought by the United Steelworkers (USW) and papermaker NewPage Corp. The union and NewPage provided extensive evidence that China massively subsidizes its paper industry, allowing it to swamp the U.S. market with cheap imports, costing U.S. jobs and damaging the economy.
USW President Leo Gerard says the Commerce decision is a first step, but
there’s still a long way to go if we want to make meaningful and lasting changes to our trade policies.
[The Commerce decision] is long overdue, and it finally makes China subject to the same rules that all other major global traders are required to follow.
The trade deficit last year with China reached an all-time high of $232.5 billion, the largest imbalance ever recorded with any country. That trade gap with China means fewer jobs here. An analysis by the AFL-CIO last year found the deficit contributed to extended unemployment and income decline among all workers, especially those in manufacturing.
Using the U.S. International Trade Commission model, the AFL-CIO calculated that up to 973,000 manufacturing jobs and 1,235,000 total jobs are displaced by China’s repression of labor rights.
The Economic Policy Institute estimates 410,000 manufacturing jobs were lost to China between 2002 and 2004, while the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) concludes that 70,000–100,000 jobs are moved each year from the United States to China, and those numbers accelerated after 2001.
Strong pressure from working families and public outcry over Chinese subsidies finally got the Bush administration to move, Gerard says, adding:
We will be working closely with Congress to ensure that the guidelines governing these countervailing duty cases against non-market economies provide for meaningful relief from China’s rampant cheating. Congress needs to take control of our nation’s trade agenda and fight for polices that protect American workers and the environment.
2 Comments
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yes, a long way to go to correct fair trade. The members of SOAR 11-3 are 100% behind the steelworkers.
As retirees, we acknowledge trade is unfair and hurting American families and that will impact standard of living for us all in the long run.
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptFor years, working families and their unions have made it clear to Congress and the president that China illegally subsidizes its exports by exploiting workers and paying them bare-bones wages. These unfair trade practices lead to job … [...]