Providing for Consideration of Motions to Suspend the Rules

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. I thank my able colleague from Florida, Congressman Hastings, for yielding and rise in support of Congressman Critz's effort here to focus attention on this whole issue of Chinese currency manipulation. When Congress passed permanent most-favored-nation status with China over my objection, we were told by supporters of the agreement that trade with China would create jobs, more economic opportunity and trade surpluses for our country. Well, if you look at the numbers, you'll see since that was passed what's happened is we've got more and more and more and more trade deficits every year, totaling in 2010 over $273 billion. With Chinese

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currency manipulation, that's almost an inflated number because it would be cut in half, it would be cut substantially if goods were marked to their true value, not their inflated value.
China has never opened up its market. That's why we get these huge trade deficits. And they aggressively use government intervention through currency manipulation to rig the markets. We know they're the largest intellectual property thief, they counterfeit their goods, and they use industrial policy to promote and protect Chinese industries at the expense of American jobs and factories. Some call these tactics market Leninism because we see state-managed capitalism in China locking down on industry after industry.

Regions like the one I represent in northern Ohio have been especially hard-hit as production shifted from the coasts of the Great Lakes to the shores of China. We can see this draining of wealth from the United States. Last year, our trade deficit again was over a half-trillion dollars globally, and with China, they had over half of that trade deficit.

If you look at the trade data, we're on track to send at least as many jobs to China this year. You can see the jobs being shipped to China in every community in this country. Even scrap metal is being sent over there, for heaven's sake.

Economists tell us that every trillion dollars in trade deficit translates into 14,000 lost American jobs. If we could get the currency manipulation issue solved, we could bring some of those jobs back to this country.

It's time for China to play on a level playing field.

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