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Today’s announcement that the U.S. trade gap with China jumped last year by 10.2 percent to $256.3 billion is another alarming reminder that the nation’s trade policies are broken and failing America’s working families.

The 2007 trade deficit with China, the biggest the United States has ever had with a single country, is clearly unsustainable. We have lost too many good-paying manufacturing jobs because China ignores the principles of fair trade.

More than 3 million manufacturing jobs have been wiped out in the United States since 2000 as multinational corporations have moved production to China and other low-wage countries where workers have few or no protections from abuse.

Our government must take immediate and effective actions to ensure that the Chinese government starts to play by the rules with respect to currency, illegal subsidies, tax policies and the rights of workers.

The Bush Administration won’t act, so our legislators need to turn this around. Congress must, for example, pass the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act (HR 2492), which declares currency manipulation an illegal trade subsidy and provides American manufacturers the opportunity to seek relief against countries that artificially regulate their currency.

Unfair manipulation keeps the value of Chinese currency low against the dollar, which makes Chinese goods cheaper in U.S. markets and makes American products more expensive to consumers overseas.

The growing trade gap with China marred a report that otherwise showed positive improvement. After setting records for five consecutive years, the overall U.S. trade deficit declined in 2007 to $712 billion despite a soaring foreign oil bill and the record deficit with China.

The enormous imbalance with China now accounts for more than 48 percent of our non- petroleum manufactured goods trade deficit. The deficit in Advanced Technology Products also soared to $53.5 billion, led by products from China.

The dollar’s decline meant that the U.S. trade deficit in goods fell with many regions, including Europe by nine percent and South America by 40 percent.  The fact that exports grew in areas where the dollar declined in value shows that the Chinese government’s manipulation of its currency is not only distorting our bilateral trade relationship, it is affecting global trade patterns. 

Our government needs to act immediately to address blatantly unfair trade policies. This is crucial if we are going to rebuild our manufacturing sector and reduce our dependence on borrowing from foreign governments.