George Voinovich: “Today Senator DeWine and I have introduced legislation that will help level the playing field for American manufacturers…”

“Today Senator DeWine and I have introduced legislation that will help level the playing field for American manufacturers futilely struggling to keep pace with their Chinese competitors. My legislation, the Currency Harmonization Initiative Through Neutralizing Action (CHINA) Act of 2003, would allow for the use of tariffs to punish China for unfair trade practices that makes Chinese exports cheaper, in effect subsidizing them, and U.S. exports more expensive. I am deeply concerned with the harm that the People's Republic of China (China) is doing to our economy by pegging the value of its currency, the renminbi, to the U.S. dollar because Ohio is a manufacturing State. Manufacturing contributes to the quality of life in Ohio by providing more than one million jobs for Ohio workers, an annual payroll of more than $45 billion, the second highest weekly earnings of any economic sector, support for local communities and schools with more than $1 billion in corporate franchise and personal property taxes, and more than $26 billion in products to more than 196 countries. After a significant recession in 2001, the 2002-2003 manufacturing recovery has been the slowest on record; during this time, roughly 2.7 million jobs have been lost.”