Limit Imports to Resolve Trade Deficit

Massive flows of imports are destroying U.S. industry and jobs.The first time I heard anyone warn us to control imports was when I was Assistant Secretary of Commerce under President Richard Nixon. The warning came from I.W. Abel, the great President of the AFL-CIO and former President of the United Steelworkers union.

That was almost 40 years ago, yet we haven’t done anything much about imports yet – now running at about $2.3 trillion per year!

Solving this problem by negotiating better trade agreements would take too long, and probably would fail because China, Japan and most other countries won’t cooperate.  What we need to do is act unilaterally to reduce imports until our trade is balanced. With import cuts of only 10% per year, we can balance our trade within three years.

My group, Balanced Trade Associates, has prepared legislation that’s ready to be submitted to Congress. We’ve tried the White House, but they’re impenetrable –didn’t even want to see our proposed bill: “The Balanced Trade Restoration Act of 2014.”

Ken Davis
Stamford, CT

 

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