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U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown
Standing Up for
American Jobs by Addressing Trade Cheats
There isn’t much Democrats and Republicans can agree on these days, but
one idea is uniting senators on both sides of the aisle.
This month I joined my colleagues of both political parties to announce
the introduction of the Currency Undervaluation Investigation Act, to
stand up to Chinese currency manipulation.
This bipartisan plan could create five million jobs, increase our GDP
by as much as $720 billion, and provide a shot in the arm to American
manufacturing — all at no cost to taxpayers.
China’s currency manipulation has been a problem for years, resulting
in artificially expensive American imports to China and artificially
cheap Chinese exports to the U.S. This puts our American manufacturers
at a serious disadvantage. Currency manipulation has already cost us up
to 5 million jobs and continues to be a drag on our economy.
Diplomatic efforts to address this cheating simply aren’t working — and
we’ll continue to lose jobs if we don’t take action.
That’s why we are introducing this legislation which would require the
Department of Commerce to investigate currency manipulation as an
illegal subsidy — just like all other illegal subsidy allegations made
by U.S. companies. The Department of Commerce already has the authority
to investigate currency manipulation — but it has declined to do so.
Instead of addressing our growing trade deficit, we are pursuing trade
deals with countries who manipulate their currencies. If we are going
to continue to pursue an aggressive trade promotion agenda, we must
combine it with equally strong trade enforcement.
That means fighting back against currency manipulation.
Foreign companies who skirt the rules are actively undermining the
effectiveness of trade laws designed to protect workers and ensure
American businesses can compete. This bipartisan plan would mean more
products stamped with “Made in the USA,” and fewer stamped “Made in
China.”
We know that our American workers are the best in the world, and that
with a level playing field they will out-compete anyone. I will work
with the senators of all political stripes to attach this bill to any
legislation going to the president’s desk, and make sure China is
playing by the same rules as the rest of us.
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