[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 42 (Wednesday, April 5, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H1537-H1538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    H.R. 4808, THE UNFAIR CHINESE AUTOMOTIVE TARIFF EQUALIZATION ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit in 
its entirety for the Record a letter from the United States Business 
and Industry Council at the conclusion of my remarks, but I will be 
reading from parts of this letter.
  Mr. Kildee and myself have introduced H.R. 4808, the Unfair Chinese 
Automobile Tariff Equalization Act. I am going to read several 
paragraphs from this letter that I will submit. It is a letter to me 
from Mr. Kevin Kearns, President of the United States Business and 
Industry Council.
  ``Dear Representative Jones: On behalf of the 1,500 U.S. companies 
comprising the U.S. Business and Industry Council, I am writing to 
express our strong support for H.R. 4808, the Unfair Chinese Automobile 
Tariff Equalization Act.
  ``Equalizing U.S. and Chinese tariffs on passenger cars, as the bill 
would require, is an important and greatly overdue step toward 
restoring equitable competition in both U.S.-China trade and global 
automobile trade. Such competition in turn is essential to restoring 
the health of the U.S.-owned automotive sector, which makes us such a 
large share of our economy and which has undergirded the American 
middle class for so many decades.''
  I am going to skip on with paragraphs, Mr. Speaker. Again, I have 
asked that this entire letter be submitted for the Record.
  ``In fact, according to the latest data available, imports have 
grabbed two-thirds of the domestic U.S. auto market in 2004, up from 50 
percent just 7 years earlier. Small wonder that Ford and GM are 
downsizing as fast as they can.
  ``Much of the blame clearly falls on incompetent trade policies, many 
of course supported by Detroit itself in a triumph of shortsightedness. 
Presidents of both parties have signed numerous free trade agreements 
over the years. But despite the promises made to sell them to an 
increasingly skeptical public, they have manifestly failed to open 
foreign markets for U.S. producers, or even to limit predatory foreign 
commercial practices such as subsidizing, dumping, and exchange rate 
manipulation.
  ``In fact, the trade flows clearly shows that the main new 
accomplishments of these trade agreements have been to help U.S. and 
foreign-brand automakers alike supply the American market from low-wage 
export platforms like Mexico.
  ``As symbolized by the ludicrously unequal auto tariffs left in place 
by U.S. negotiators of China trade deals, U.S. policy on automotive 
trade with China is speeding down the same road and will likely produce 
the same results. The United States still runs a small trade surplus in 
autos with China, but since 2000, Chinese auto exports to the United 
States have outpaced the United States vehicle exports to China by a 
four-to-one ratio.
  ``The Unfair Chinese Automotive Tariff Equalization Act can begin 
reversing this process and help put the U.S.-owned auto industry and 
the domestic manufacturing base as a whole back on the path of high-
wage growth not low-wage stagnation. And the time to pass it is now, 
before the Chinese export drive takes off.''
  Mr. Speaker, the close on this letter is, ``We strongly urge prompt 
House and Senate passage, and we will do everything we can to help make 
it the law of the land.''
  Mr. Speaker, I also want to mention that the Chair of the caucus 
known as the House Automotive Caucus has urged Members of this House to 
support 4808 that is signed by Mr. Kildee and Mr. Upton, and we are 
asking just fairness in this trade issue. That is all we are asking, is 
that the Congress send a message to the trade negotiators that we in 
this Congress want our manufacturers and our workers to be treated 
fairly. That is all we are asking in 4808 is to send a message.
  If we could get this bill to the floor of the House and pass this 
legislation, we would say to our trade negotiators that we need you, 
the trade negotiators, to make sure that we have fair trade as it 
relates to the American worker and the American manufacturers.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you for this time, and I want 
to close by asking God to please bless our men and women in uniform, 
and to ask God to please bless the families and to ask God to please 
bless America.

                                            United States Business


                                         and Industry Council,

                                     Washington, DC, Mar. 9, 2006.
     Congressman Walter Jones,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Jones: On behalf of the 1,500 domestic 
     U.S. companies comprising the U.S. Business and Industry 
     Council, I am writing to express our strong support for H.R. 
     4808, Tbe Unfair Chinese Automotive Tariff Equalization Act.
       Equalizing U.S. and Chinese tariffs on passenger cars, as 
     the bill would require, is an important and greatly overdue 
     step toward restoring equitable competition in both U,S.-
     China trade and global automotive trade. Such competition in 
     turn is essential to restoring the health of the U.S.-owned 
     automotive sector, which makes up such a large share of our 
     economy, and which has undergirded the American middle class 
     for so many decades.
       For many years, America's trade performance in passenger 
     cars has been nothing less than disastrous. Despite the 
     proliferation of foreign transplant factories throughout the 
     country, the United States ran a $101.8 billion trade deficit 
     in autos and light trucks in 2005. U.S. imports of these 
     products last year, which totaled more than $126 billion, 
     represented fully 84 percent of two-way global U.S. vehicle 
     trade.
       In fact, according to the latest data available, imports 
     had grabbed two-thirds of the domestic U.S. auto market in 
     2004, up from 50 percent just seven years earlier. Small 
     wonder that Ford and GM are downsizing as fast as they can.
       Much of the blame clearly falls on incompetent trade 
     policies (many, of course, supported by Detroit itself in a 
     triumph of short-sightedness). Presidents of both parties 
     have signed numerous free trade agreements over the years. 
     But despite the promises made to sell them to an increasingly 
     skeptical public, they have manifestly failed to open foreign 
     markets for U.S. producers, or even to limit predatory 
     foreign commercial practices such as subsidization, dumping, 
     and exchange-rate manipulation.
       In fact, the trade flows clearly show that the main new 
     accomplishments of these trade agreements have been to help 
     U.S.- and foreign-brand automakers alike supply the American 
     market from low-wage export platforms like Mexico.

[[Page H1538]]

       As symbolized by the ludicrously unequal auto tariffs left 
     in place by U.S. negotiators of China trade deals, U.S. 
     policy on automotive trade with China is speeding down the 
     same road, and will likely produce the same results. The 
     United States still runs a small trade surplus in autos with 
     China. But since 2000, Chinese auto exports to the U.S. have 
     outpaced U.S. vehicle exports to China by a four-to-one 
     ratio.
       Yet it is vital to realize that the development of China as 
     an automotive export platform has only just begun. Vehicle 
     makers from all over the world (Japan, Europe, the United 
     States, and China itself) are building far more auto 
     production capacity in the People's Republic than the Chinese 
     market can possibly absorb. And since China desperately needs 
     to create jobs to keep politically explosive unemployment in 
     check, Beijing has no interest in preventing or even slowing 
     this production glut. Indeed, to reduce joblessness, it has 
     every interest in encouraging overproduction and exporting 
     the surplus. The United States, the world's largest single 
     national automotive market, and the most open major market by 
     far, is the most promising destination.
       Chinese auto makers, who frequently steal U.S. know-how 
     outright or force their U.S. partners to transfer it, have 
     already announced plans to sell hundreds of thousands of 
     vehicles in the United States by 2012. And foreign auto 
     makers in China (including U.S. multinational companies) will 
     jump on the export bandwagon as well.
       The bottom line is that, without dramatic changes in U.S. 
     trade policy, China's inevitable emergence as an auto export 
     power will either further undermine U.S.-owned, U.S.-based 
     auto production, or it will permit such production to survive 
     only on a greatly reduced scale, and with a dramatically 
     lower pay structure.
       The Unfair Chinese Automotive Tariff Equalization Act can 
     begin reversing this process, and help put the U.S.-owned 
     auto industry and the domestic manufacturing base as a whole 
     back on the path of high-wage growth not low-wage stagnation. 
     And the time to pass it is now, before the Chinese export 
     drive takes off.
       We strongly urge prompt House and Senate passage, and we 
     will do everything we can to help make it the law of the 
     land.
           Sincerely,
                                                  Kevin L. Kearns,
     President.

                          ____________________