(The Boston Globe posted the following story by Kimberly Blanton on its website on October 14.)
BOSTON — U.S. Representative Bernie Sanders yesterday called for repeal of the free-trade measure that cleared the way for China to join the World Trade Organization, saying that it has cost the United States far too many manufacturing jobs and swelled the trade deficit.
“American workers should not be asked and forced to compete against Chinese workers who work for 30, 40, 50 cents an hour, who can’t form unions, where there is no environmental protection,” Sanders said. “Trade is OK if it works for both sides. This trade agreement is working for the Chinese — not for the American worker.”
He said that his bill, which would repeal the granting in 2000 of so-called permanent normal trade relations with China, has bipartisan support from 40 other members of Congress.
Sanders took aim at the trade imbalance with China, which last year hit $103 billion, the largest ever recorded by the United States with any country. So far this year the deficit is 22 percent above last year’s pace. For every $6 in products that China sells in the United States, US companies sell $1 worth to China.
“The larger the trade deficit, the more decent-paying jobs we lose,” Sanders said.
Meanwhile, the Bush administration has accused China of manipulating its currency to promote exports to the United States by keeping prices artificially low. President Bush is expected to again make currency policy an issue when he meets next week with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Bangkok.
Congress is also considering retaliatory tariffs to counter the currency imbalance and to slow the flow of goods from China.
Sanders said the United States should negotiate a trade agreement with China that is more favorable to US workers.
The AFL-CIO said the current trade relations have accelerated the movement of US jobs overseas by establishing a formal trade relationship that protects US manufacturers opening plants in China.
The United States has lost an estimated 2.7 million factory jobs over the past three years, though no figures are available on how many have gone to China. US companies, including IBM, General Electric Co., Honeywell, and Ethan Allen Furniture are opening plants in China, where they will manufacture goods for sale to US consumers, Sanders said at a news conference in Montpelier.
The Bush adminstration’s focus is on the trade gap with China. It’s forecast to hit $120 billion this year — six times what it was in 1992.
China’s yuan is pegged to the US dollar, and, according to the National Association of Manufacturers, is undervalued, making Chinese goods cheap to import.
“That’s not playing by the rules and boosts our trade deficits,” said Scott Montrey, a spokesman for the association. “Our position is that’s got to stop.”
In Beijing last month, US Treasury Secretary John Snow urged China to stop pegging its currency to the dollar. China rejected the proposal, but the administration plans to keep up the pressure.
The administration also complains that China is not moving fast enough to honor commitments it made when it joined the WTO. They include lowering trade barriers against American manufactured goods and farm products and allowing US banks, telecommunications companies, and other service industries to compete in China’s vast market.
Commerce Secretary Don Evans last month formed an Unfair Trade Practices Team to make sure that China lives up to its promises.
Thea Lee, the AFL-CIO’s assistant policy director, said Sanders’ legislation would stem the flow of jobs overseas. “US companies know they can make more money if they pay Chinese wages rather than American wages,” she said. “If we cut off imports from China because they violate workers’ rights, that would help preserve US jobs.”
(Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.)