by James Parks, May 9, 2011
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.
More than 5 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, Paul says. Even at the current rate of manufacturing job creation, it would take 24 years to restore all of the lost manufacturing jobs our economy has shed, he adds.
Paul says:
We hear tough talk, but we need equally tough action to level the playing field for American companies and their workers if this economy is to grow and prosper in the coming months and years.
Meanwhile, the unfair trade practices that force production to move overseas are weakening our national defense industrial capabilities, Paul says. We now have to rely on critical components for weapons systems from uncertain trading partners, such as China, who has been restricting exports of rare-earth minerals and elements used in many defense applications. Paul says the U.S. public correctly believes our nation’s economic strength and national security depends on a strong manufacturing sector.
