October 2010
WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-28) today spoke on the floor about a bill she has co-sponsored to pressure China into ending its practice of currency manipulation to protect American exports. Slaughter, a longtime advocate on trade issues and rebalancing exports to protect domestic industries and workers, lead the legislation to the House floor after its hearing in the Rules Committee.
“This bill is long overdue,” Slaughter said. “This vote today is a sign to China that we are getting serious. We’ve been more than patient for much too long. In fact, we’ve been foolish. China has been recalcitrant and it’s time for us to make a strong statement.”
The bill, H.R. 2378, is known as the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act and was introduced last year. It clarifies that the U.S. Department of Commerce can apply U.S. trade remedies – specifically, “countervailing duties” – to such situations if it finds that all the legal elements necessary to apply such duties are met. Additional import duties would be imposed only on those products that have caused or threatened “material injury” to a U.S. industry producing the same product. (Currently, U.S. trade remedies — both antidumping and countervailing duties — apply to less than 3 percent of U.S. imports from China.)