While tax reform and social program reforms are contentious topics in DC, America’s manufacturing sector waits for our legislators to turn their attention to our problematic trade deficit; which has been staring us in the face for decades. There is an obvious connection between the trade deficit and the budget deficit. More people working decreases demand for public services while increasing tax revenue, which in turn, would lower our budget deficit.
But we can’t fix our budget deficit or our trade deficit without addressing the elephant in the room: trade with China. China’s trade practices, including its currency manipulation and the illegal subsidies it provides its industries, interfere with our ability to increase exports and create jobs.
There’s a clear connection. In the decade after the U.S. helped China join the World Trade Organization in 2001, America lost 2.4 million middle-income factory jobs. http://www.epi.org/publication/bp260/ and our trade deficit with China keeps growing: It was $315 billion in 2012 alone.
HR1276 -- the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act -- would give American businesses the ability to seek redress when a foreign government targets their industries with a rigged currency. The bill has 129 cosponsors but we need more members of Congress to step up for American manufacturing. Stop by your Congressperson’s office and ask them to support this bill. Tell them that if you fix one deficit, you fix the other! Millions of out-of-work Americans are waiting for their support.
For more information, call me at 260-633-1060. Thanks for helping to “Keep it Made in America” www.americanmanufacturing.org
Rachel Bennett Steury, AAM Field Coordinator
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