October 13, 2005 – AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka urged the Bush Administration and Congress to take immediate action to halt China’s unfair trade practices in an address for the China Currency Coalition today.
“American manufacturing workers and their communities continue to bear the brunt of the illegal actions by the Chinese government. The facts are: China violates workers’ rights. It gives illegal subsidies to business. It manipulates its currency. The resulting cost to our economy in lost jobs and opportunities is staggering,” said Trumka.
Trumka said the U.S. government has already let these unfair trade practices go on too long.
“In the face of the Chinese government’s empty promises and inadequate actions, our own government has simply failed to act. As the months and years pass without a resolution, the bilateral U.S. deficit with China continues to hit new records, and we continue to hemorrhage family-supporting manufacturing jobs,” he said.
On behalf of the AFL-CIO Industrial Council, Trumka urged the forthcoming Treasury Department report to accurately reflect China’s exchange rate manipulation, Congress to approve bipartisan legislation that would provide U.S. manufacturers and the executive branch with more effective WTO-complaint tools and the Commerce Department to aggressively pursue unfair trade complaints and collect all duties owed in a timely fashion.
