Kaptur Decries Loss of 2.3 Million American Jobs to China
Statement
Kaptur Decries Loss of 2.3 Million American Jobs to China
Marcy Kaptur, a staunch proponent of fair trade, today cited a new report by a Washington think tank that shows a hemorrhage of good-paying U.S. jobs due to an imbalanced trade relationship with the People's Republic of China. "Fair trade, reciprocal trade," said Congresswoman Kaptur.
"The communist government of China captures the gold medal for unfair trade practices," she said, citing a report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) that revealed the growing U.S. trade deficit with China has cost our economy 2.3 million jobs between 2001 and 2007, including 366,000 last year alone.
"This report illustrates how trade with closed economies isn't free trade at all. We are sacrificing our values and selling our security to the lowest bidder," Kaptur said.
The report notes that more than half the jobs displaced by trade with China (55.6 percent) were held by the top half of American wage earners. Almost one in three jobs lost to China (31 percent) were held was among workers with a college degree.
"The EPI report further destroys the myth that China is sending us only dangerous toys and Christmas ornaments," said Congresswoman Kaptur. "They are steadily ascending the commanding heights of the economic landscape, using every tool at their disposal, from prison labor to currency manipulation to theft of intellectual property to environmental plunder.
"When will America wake up to this threat?"
Kaptur further cited research by Dr. Charles McMillion, chief economist for MBG Information Services, that while China's real annual gross domestic product has averaged 10.2 percent since admission to the World Trade Organization in 2002, growth in industrial production has averaged 15.5 percent compared to 1.8 percent in the United States.
Despite this hyper-growth, China's current account surplus has climbed from 1.3% of GDP in 2001 to 12.3% in 2007. As a result, she said, China over the past six years has accumulated global current account surpluses of almost one trillion dollars ($932 billion).
"The Chinese have more than enough foreign reserves to buy whatever assets they want on the world marketwhether it's oil in Africa or investment banks in the United States."
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