American Workers Need Fair Trade, Not Empty Promises

USW International Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson and progressive talk show host Leslie Marshall this week discussed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent trip to the United States and the vague, empty promises he made about how China will become a better trading partner.

China’s recent actions on currency manipulation, industrial espionage, violations of trade agreements and other crucial issues, however, belie Xi’s statements, proving China has a long way to go before it is truly open to competing on a level playing field.

“The whole thing has to be about more than promises,” said Johnson. “Coming here and saying what they’re going to do has nothing to do with implementing what has to be done to make China a decent, reasonable player in the world.”

China must be willing to make genuine changes in the form of iron-clad, enforceable agreements on everything from human rights to the rapidly widening trade deficit, said Johnson.

It has to be willing to engage in its own research and development, rather than sponsoring hackers who steal ideas from American companies, and China must transition to a market economy that accommodates players and priorities outside those of the Chinese government. 

China’s questionable trade tactics have a variety of negative consequences for the larger economy, from destabilizing international stock markets to threatening military security, but the bottom line, Johnson said, is the loss of good, middle class, American jobs.

“The point is to get people to pay attention,” said Johnson. “These things do matter, and our trade deficits do matter. In ten years of trading with China from 2001 to 2011 we gained 538,000 jobs from exports to China. Over the same period we lost 3.3 million jobs to imports from China.”

“It’s about how our economy operates,” said Johnson. “It’s about how our families survive. It’s about how we continue the American dream. And we’re not going to continue the American dream by importing Chinese goods.”

For the full audio, click the link below:

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Why the U.S. Should Be Wary of Chinese Money

Globalization Lowers the Wages of U.S. Workers

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America's Collapsing Trade Initiatives

 

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