On the recordSeptember 29, 2010
Today, I rise to support a bipartisan bill that will help rebuild our manufacturing sector and continue our economic recovery. I am proud to be a cosponsor of the ``Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act.'' The legislation was introduced in response to China's persistent intervention to keep its currency undervalued by 35-40 percent relative to the dollar and its resort to illegal subsidies and non-tariff barriers to promote its own industries at the expense of U.S. manufacturing jobs. These practices affect billions of dollars in trade and have allowed China to flood our markets with their products while they limit our ability to export our goods to them. Many companies are left with little choice but to move their operations offshore in order to compete, costing us precious jobs. According to the textile industry, these unfair trade practices have cost the United States over a million manufacturing jobs in the last decade, including hundreds of thousands of textile and apparel jobs. The devaluation of China's currency worsens the already severe U.S- China trade deficit. Statistics show that between January 2000 and May 2009, China's share of the U.S. trade deficit for non-oil goods grew from 26 percent to 83 percent. If we can convince the Chinese to stop pegging its currency, U.S. exports would get a huge boost, and in time, so would investment in new plant and equipment.
