Washington, D.C.-- Today, Congressman Heath Shuler (D-Waynesville) voted in support of the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, H.R. 2378, which gets tough on China and other countries who have been giving themselves an unfair advantage in trade and manufacturing. For years, China has been using illegal subsidies and keeping the value of its currency artificially low, tactics which promote Chinese exports by making them comparatively cheap to buy in the U.S.
“Studies report that China may be undervaluing their currency by as much as 40 percent,” said Rep. Shuler. “This unfair trade practice put American workers and manufacturers in America at a disadvantage that is simply unacceptable. We’ve lost enough jobs to China. It’s time for China to stop cheating with their currency so we can get those jobs back to the U.S.”
According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, 2.4 million U.S. jobs were lost or displaced due to trade with China between 2001 and 2008. This bill could generate as many as a million domestic manufacturing jobs and reduce our trade deficit with China by $100 billion a year.
Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winning economist, said “China is taxing imports while subsidizing exports, feeding a huge trade surplus.” For decades, previous Administrations and Congress lobbied China to stop playing with the value of their currency and allow the Yuan to respond to natural market forces, to no avail.
The bipartisan Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act gives the federal government tools to correct currency manipulation like that employed by China. The legislation allows for additional tariffs to offset the negative effects of currency undervaluation. It also allows the Commerce Department to treat foreign currency manipulation as an export subsidy and to determine the amount that subsidy is worth. The Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act passed the House by a vote of 348 to 79.
“I am a member of the bipartisan Buy America Caucus because we need to address the unfair trade agreements that have closed our factories and sent thousands of good-paying jobs overseas,” said Rep. Shuler. “I am glad to see Congress getting tough with China, and I am going to work to make this the first of many such bills.”
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