A recent Cleveland Plain Dealer article detailed how African-American workers are suffering more than their share in our globalizing economy. A factor neglected in this article about the loss of manufacturing jobs is our stubborn commitment to obsolete trade policies (“Black factory workers hit hardest”, 2/25/06. Click here for a link to the original study, The Decline in African-American Representation in Unions and Auto Manufacturing, 1979-2004 by John Schmitt and Ben Zipperer, January 2006.). These policies are eroding the economies of communities across NE Ohio, particularly in Ohio Congressional District 11, represented by Stephanie Tubbs-Jones. This was the topic of a Chinese Currency Policy Briefing sponsored on Thursday, February 23 by the NE Ohio Campaign for American Manufacturing.
The Chinese government is perfecting the practice of currency manipulation – which is in effect an illegal export subsidy under World Trade Organization rules. Manufacturers know that manipulation of the Chinese currency gives products made in China a 30-40% cost advantage compared to products made here. This hidden tariff contributes to the hemorrhaging of US manufacturing jobs, the dislocation of US production, and erodes the living standards of working families -- white, Hispanic and, especially, African-Americans, as your article noted. Since China entered the WTO, Ohio has lost over 14,500 manufacturing jobs due to our trade deficit with China – fueled by their policy of currency manipulation.
Congress can change this. The China Currency Bill (HR 1498, introduced by Democrat Tim Ryan of Youngstown and Republican Duncan Hunter of California) would help US based manufacturers remain competitive around the globe. This is needed nowhere more than in Ohio’s 11th District, which has a large number of manufacturing firms, particularly in steel and related sectors that have been under attack from Chinese based competitors maximizing the unfair advantage of an undervalued Chinese Yuan. Tubbs-Jones is familiar with the problem, as she joined with others to challenge China’s currency manipulation in 2005.
Now it is time for Congresswoman Tubbs-Jones to join Northern Ohio’s congressional delegation, Democrats and Republicans alike, all of whom are cosponsoring the Hunter-Ryan bill. Doing so would bring the number of cosponsors to well over 150, the most bipartisan trade bill ever, and would send a clear signal to Chinese officials that the US wants action to end currency manipulation, leading to a more level international trading field. Click HERE to send a message to Congresswoman Tubbs-Jones. Phone calls to her Ohio office are preferred over faxes or emails.
