The 2010 “Good Jobs, Green Jobs” National Conference kicks off this upcoming Tuesday. With guest speakers including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senator John Kerry, AAM Executive Director Scott Paul, and USW President Leo Gerard, the event is not to be missed.
Like many of the designers we have featured on Fashion Friday, Anna Sui has a unique story. She wanted to be a fashion designer from age four, and even though she is very much in touch with her Chinese culture, she chooses to manufacture her garments and other products in the United States.
For the fashionista on a budget, Sui has a line of clothing for Target, as well. Like her higher-end pieces, the line is still made in America and is inspired by the popular CW television show, “Gossip Girl.”
Check out this article in The New Yorker (preview available, subscription required) on products and clothing labels that are still “Made in the U.S.A.”
What’s needed, according to Samuelson, is a “sizable revaluation of China’s currency”:
Fred Bergsten of the Peterson Institute thinks the renminbi may be 40 percent undervalued against the dollar. This gives China’s exports a huge advantage and underpins its trade surpluses. Other Asian countries fear altering their currencies if China doesn’t change first. “They’ll lose ground to China,” notes Hensley. The European Union, Brazil, and India all feel threatened by the renminbi. President Obama wants U.S. exports to double in five years. That’s probably unrealistic, but it’s impossible if the renminbi isn’t revalued.
Samuelson quotes AAM Executive Director Scott Paul, who points out that revaluing China’s currency is the “single most important tool we have to increase exports and decrease imports.”
In an interview with the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), Gilbert Kaplan of King & Spalding discusses the aluminum extrusion trade case against China and why it is important that the Department of Commerce take China’s currency manipulation into consideration when determining the margin of subsidy.
Infrastructure, Infrastructure, Infrastructure. It seems like when it come to reviving manufacturing, rebuilding the economy and creating new jobs, “Infrastructure” is the one word that always pops up.
At next week’s 2010 “Good Jobs, Green Jobs” National Conference in Washington, DC will feature a workshop entitled “Infrastructure and Job Creation: A Priority for Urban America” which will discuss “the once in a generation opportunity for job creation by restoring and upgrading neglected infrastructure such as bridges, roads, wastewater systems, and schools,” in addition to what it will take to create new jobs.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has set preliminary dumping duty determinations against certain coated paper imports from China and Indonesia. This could eventually lead to duties being imposed on imports of certain coated paper stock from China and Indonesia that have been unfairly dumped and subsidized in the U.S. market.
Three paper-producing companies (Sappi, Appleton Coated, and NewPage) and the United Steelworkers (USW) filed a case last fall with the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that certain coated paper from China and Indonesia had been dumped and subsidized resulting in injury to the domestic industry and its employees. The decision by the DOC supports the allegations in the petitions that imports from these two countries are being dumped. Dumping occurs when a foreign producer sells into the U.S. market for less than the price that a producer charges in its home market or when its U.S. prices are below the cost to produce the product.
“The Alliance for American Manufacturing and the Economic Policy Institute put together a report on the number of jobs lost across the country due to our growing trade deficit with China – a direct result of that country undervaluing its currency. In Indiana’s 2nd Congressional district alone, they estimate that 6,000 jobs have been lost due to Chinese currency manipulation.”
Donnelly adds:
“I strongly support cracking down on China’s unfair currency policies. I’m proud to be a supporter of House Resolution 2378. the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, which would allow American industries and their workers affect by currency manipulation to seek remedies under current trade laws. Also, the bill would seek to identify cases of currency manipulation and create an incentive for foreign governments to stop unfair trade practices to prevent similar abuses in the future.”
Recently, the U.S. Treasury Department delayed publication of its semi-annual report on currency. The three-month rollback was intended to give China an opportunity to demonstrate progress on adjusting its undervalued currency, the Yuan.
The failure of the Treasury and the president to act does not prevent other policy makers from doing something to stop currency manipulation. Congress should immediately pass legislation to bypass the failed Treasury foreign exchange review process, require the Treasury secretary to begin negotiations with these countries, and impose tariffs of at least 25% within 90 days if any country fails to revalue when identified by the Treasury as a currency manipulator.
Scott believes that addressing the currency peg could significantly rebalance U.S. trade: “Ending China’s currency manipulation could help create at least 1 million U.S. jobs in the next few years.”
