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.
Manufacturing a Better Future for America
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The United States cannot revive its economy without first rebuilding the nation’s manufacturing base, several experts say. While most of us understand how devastating the loss of a plant can be to a community and to the economy, policymakers don’t get it, they add.
During a roundtable discussion yesterday in Washington, D.C., several contributors to a new book, Manufacturing a Better Future for America, spelled out the case for a bold new U.S. industrial policy.
Simply put: For nearly 300 years, the United States invested in producing goods and, as a result, became the richest nation in history. But for the past few decades, policymakers have systematically dismantled our manufacturing base through bad tax policies and short-sighted trade agreements that encourage consumption of cheap foreign imports and provide incentives for U.S.-based companies to export jobs.
