Trade enforcement
Message to Congress - Support manufacturing in America through increased trade enforcement and opposing illegal currency manipulation.
Congress should provide additional resources to the Administration to enforce existing trade laws and provide U.S. businesses with more tools to defend themselves against the effects of currency misalignment and other trade inequalities.
Failure to enforce our trade laws and agreements has cost the United States millions of jobs over the past 15 years. While trade offers numerous benefits to American businesses, without adequate enforcement, Americans cannot reap its full rewards. Our nation has lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2000 and a quarter million jobs have been lost on account of Chinese counterfeit products alone.
In addition, countries like China and others continue to manipulate their currency to the detriment of American manufacturers. Currency manipulation gives China and other countries a competitive advantage when exporting manufactured goods to the U. S. and limits our ability to export. The Chinese yuan is undervalued by at least 40% due to China’s manipulation.
Any fundamentally misaligned currency is an illegal trade subsidy and should be considered as such under U.S. laws. Small and medium-sized manufacturers are in the unfortunate position of facing restrictive domestic trade policies and illegal competition from foreign companies. Fundamental currency misalignment causes continued and protracted injury to U.S. businesses.