Senate Votes Today on China Currency
The U.S. Senate today will vote on a bill (S. 1619) to hold China accountable for its job-killing practice of currency manipulation. According to new data, 2.8 million American jobs were lost or displaced over the past decade due to the growing U.S. trade deficit with China—fueled by Chinese currency manipulation. (Call your senators today and urge them to vote for S. 1619 or click HERE to e-mail your senators.)
A filibuster against the China currency bill was broken Oct. 6 (63-28). But the vote on final passage was delayed last week when Republicans tried to attach a series of weakening amendments.
Chinese Currency Bill Could Lead to More than 2 Million Jobs
Next week, the U.S. Senate will take up consideration of a bill to address Chinese currency manipulation. The Republican-controlled House is holding up its version of the legislation, even though it passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2010, with 99 Republicans supporting it.
Unlike other currencies, the Chinese yuan does not fluctuate freely against the dollar but is artificially pegged in order to boost China’s exports. Bringing the Chinese yuan to its equilibrium level—a 28.5 percent appreciation—is essential to creating much-needed jobs in this country. The Alliance for American Manufacturing says addressing Chinese currency manipulation would lead to:
Report: Trade Deficit with China Costs 2.8 Million Jobs
The U.S.-China trade deficit has eliminated or displaced nearly 2.8 million jobs, mainly in manufacturing, following that country’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, according to a study released today. View an interactive map of jobs lost throughout the United States here.
“Growing U.S. trade deficit with China cost 2.8 million jobs between 2001 and 2010” by Robert Scott, EPI’s director of trade and manufacturing policy research, finds that all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico suffered jobs lost or displaced as a result of the growing U.S.-China trade deficit.
The report cites illegal currency manipulation as a major cause of the trade deficit. Unlike other currencies, the Chinese yuan does not fluctuate freely against the dollar, but is artificially pegged in order to boost China’s exports.
By the Numbers: Republican Leadership Sits on Legislation to Rein in China Currency Manipulation
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This is a cross-post from the House Ways and Means Committee Democrats:
Currency manipulation costs the United States hundreds of thousands of jobs, yet the Republicans fail to act.
Last fall the House passed legislation to crack down on China’s manipulation of its currency with overwhelming bipartisan support.
Earlier this year Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) introduced H.R. 639, the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, to curtail continued Chinese currency manipulation. Despite bipartisan support in the House to crack down on China’s manipulation of its currency last fall, and the 189 bipartisan co-sponsors who support current legislation, the Republican leadership has refused to move forward on the measure this year.
First Step in China Trade Policy—Stop Currency Manipulation
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The U.S. government, American businesses and consumers all can play a role in combating China’s unfair trade policies that are weakening the nation’s economy, stealing jobs and giving China unparalleled economic advantages.
But the first steps must be taken by the government to declare China a currency manipulator—either through legislation or executive action—and then follow through with sanctions if China fails to respond, said a panel of trade and economic experts this morning at a special China trade policy forum in Washington, D.C.
The forum, sponsored by the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA), used the recent book Death by China: Confronting the Dragon—A Global Call to Action as the jumping off point for the discussion.
Authors Peter Navarro, professor of economics and public policy at the University of California-Irvine, and Greg Autry, an entrepreneur and educator, explore China’s trade policies, near nonexistent workers’ rights laws, environmental standards, product safety rules and its military and espionage actions. Death by China shows how those policies threaten the U.S. economy and jobs.
Immediate action must be taken on currency manipulation, said Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) and former chief economist to Vice President Joe Biden.
Currency Manipulation Should Top U.S.-China Talks
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China’s currency manipulation should be the main focus of talks this week between high level U.S. and Chinese government officials, says Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM).
The meetings in Washington, D.C. May 9 –10 provide an important opportunity for the American delegation—led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner—to back up the Obama administration’s tough talk on the Chinese government’s undervalued currency with strong action, he says.
If the administration will not get tough and demand that China play by the rules, Congress will have no option but to once again pass tough legislation to counter the artificial advantage China enjoys on trade.
Trumka: Make It In America Agenda A Step in Right Direction
Rebuilding America’s manufacturing base is central to rebuilding our nation’s economy and it’s time for Congress to focus on jobs, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said today. Trumka commended Democratic House Whip Steny Hoyer for refocusing attention on job creation by introducing the bipartisan “Make it in America” agenda, a series of proposals that together would create a national manufacturing strategy.
The nation has seen too many jobs move overseas, Trumka said, including research and development capacity. The loss of the nation’s innovative, technical and industrial capacity not only undermines opportunities in America, it also threatens our national security, he added.
Stopping Currency Manipulation Would Create U.S. Jobs
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Leveling the playing field by enforcing our trade laws against currency manipulation is a no-cost action that will create jobs, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said today.
He called on Congress to pass the bipartisan Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act of 2011. Introduced by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Reps. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), it is same legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last September by a 348-79 margin.
Congressional Report: China’s WTO Membership Doesn’t Help U.S. Workers
China’s government has failed to live up to the claims its backers made in 2001 to help it gain entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to a congressional commission.
In its 2010 annual report, released yesterday, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) details the multiple ways the Chinese government has flooded the United States with exports while shutting its doors to imports and costing millions of U.S. jobs.
In an understatement, Carolyn Bartholomew, the commission’s vice-chairman, told a Washington, D.C., press conference yesterday:
The grounds on which it [China’s entry into the WTO] was sold did not turn out as promised for American workers.
Supporters claimed in 2001 that admitting China into the WTO would boost U.S. exports, increase American jobs and help transform China’s authoritarian government and enhance U.S. national security. None of that has happened, the USCC report says.
Chamber Out of Touch on China Currency Manipulation
It’s not every day a majority of Republicans in Congress thumb their noses at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. But yesterday, 99 Republican House members, many with an eye on Nov. 2, voted for H.R. 2378, the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act.
The day before the vote, 36 business groups, led by the Chamber, sent a letter to Capitol Hill denouncing the bill. In the letter, the Chamber showed—again—that its focus is on the bottom line for big multinationals, not working families or small businesses.
On the other hand, supporters of the bill were able to refute the Chamber’s claims by citing a petition circulated by the Fair Currency Coalition in favor of the legislation and signed by hundreds of business groups, unions and farm organizations. These groups represent the workers and businesses that have been hurt by the Chinese government’s schemes.
