05/30/12 Tuesday, Congressman Joe Donnelly expressed his concern that the U.S. Treasury Department declined to name China a currency manipulator in a report on international economic and exchange rate policies, which was released last Friday.
“I’m concerned about the Treasury’s failure to label the Chinese government as a currency manipulator,” said Donnelly. “I often hear from Hoosier manufacturers and business owners who are at a disadvantage right now because the Chinese government is not playing by the rules. The Chinese government’s refusal to fairly value their currency makes their products artificially cheap and leads to a loss of American jobs. I have been a longtime advocate of leveling the playing field for Hoosier manufacturers and to accomplish that we must make sure Chinese goods aren’t on permanent sale.”
Donnelly has a proven track record of working to crack down on the Chinese government’s unfair practices that make Chinese products artificially cheap.
He is a co-sponsor of The Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, H.R. 639, which has 233 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle. Despite the fact that the support of those 233 co-sponsors is enough to pass the legislation through the House, the bill has not yet come up for a vote in the House. The Senate version of this bill, The Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011, S. 1619, passed in October of last year by a bipartisan vote of 63 to 35.
Donnelly has urged House Republican leadership to allow a vote on this bill in the House by speaking on the House floor, sending a letter to Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and renewing his call for congressional action publicly.
After a July 2010 Treasury report also declined to name China a currency manipulator, Donnelly invited U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to visit manufacturers in north central Indiana to talk to Hoosier businesses about their experiences fighting China’s unfair trade advantages.
The Economic Policy Institute released a September 2011 study showing that between 2001 and 2010, the U.S. lost 2.8 million jobs, including nearly 62,000 jobs in Indiana, due to the expanding trade deficit with China. To read the Economic Policy Institute’s report, click here.
