[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 24, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H125-H126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   STATE OF THE UNION, JOBS AND TRADE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, tonight the President will speak to America 
and the world in the annual State of the Union Address. I'm eager to 
hear his ideas about additional job creation because job creation must 
be America's number one priority.
  Back home in northern Ohio, we are seeing manufacturing starting to 
pick up. In Lorain, Ohio, Republic Steel is gearing up production. In 
Toledo, GM Transmission and companies like BX Solutions are bringing 
back jobs in the transportation and logistical services industry. And 
across our region, the auto sector is making major investments.
  The Detroit auto show just wrapped up, and there is much to be 
optimistic about. For one, GM is officially back on top, claiming the 
title as the world's largest automaker, an amazing comeback for the 
American automotive industry. Our resilient autoworkers brought it 
roaring back, even after some here would have left it for dead.
  Just between 2009 and last year, the U.S. auto industry created over 
75,000 new jobs. We see the impact in places like Toledo, where 
Chrysler is expanding production at the Jeep plant, creating thousands 
of new jobs. In Avon Lake, Ford is investing. And GM's hot-selling 
Cruze is lighting up factory floors in northern Ohio, from Toledo and 
Defiance to Parma and Lordstown. However, we cannot forget that 
countries like China want to muscle in on the U.S. auto sector. If we 
want to see the U.S. auto industry in a continuing state of growth, 
creating jobs and building our economy forward, Congress must champion 
fair trade.
  In December, the Congressional China Commission held a hearing on 
China's unfair trade practices. I used that opportunity to point out 
exactly how the government in Beijing blocks fair trade in U.S.-made 
cars and trucks. When Congress ceded China permanent normal trade 
relations, proponents promised that U.S. products would gain real 
access to the Chinese market. This has not happened. Would you believe 
that a Jeep Grand Cherokee costs $85,000 in China? That is three times 
what it costs here in the United States. And why? The Chinese 
Government has created an elaborate system of protective tariffs meant 
to keep U.S.-made trucks and cars out of China.
  I asked the U.S. Trade Representative in December to develop a 
comprehensive strategy for addressing China's anticompetitive behavior. 
Main Street manufacturers are hard at work creating jobs along Ohio's 
north coast and throughout the Midwest, but it's overtime for the 
administration and Congress to get to work on the very real impact that 
the trade deficit has on lost U.S. jobs.
  Economists estimate that for every billion dollars in trade deficit, 
we lose 15,000 jobs here. For 2011, our trade deficit with China alone 
will be close to $300 billion. If we do the quick, back-of-the-envelope 
math, this means that the U.S. ceded over 4.3 million jobs to China 
last year.
  The entire U.S. trade deficit for 2011 is projected to reach an 
incredible $727 billion in the red, three quarters of a trillion. China 
accounts for 40 percent of it. Congress and the President must stand up 
for U.S. manufacturing and American jobs.
  On December 15, the Chinese Government ratcheted up its attacks on 
our auto industry by levying an additional 21.5 percent antidumping 
duty and a 12.9 percent countervailing duty on top of their already 
unfair practices. That is why I and other Members are asking the 
President to take the Chinese before the World Trade Organization. We 
need official action to confront China's job aggression.
  While the official unemployment rate is coming down here, we have a 
major fight to create more jobs in America.

                              {time}  1120

  In places like northern Ohio, there are still over 100,000 people out 
of work.

[[Page H126]]

Greater Cleveland has over 75,000 people out of work, Toledo over 
27,000, and Sandusky over 3,000. Our economy is still struggling 
forward. We can see how many jobs have been stamped out in not just the 
auto industry, but in manufacturing across our country due to unfair 
trade regimes. We need Congress and the executive branch to stand up 
and demand fairness for our companies, our workers, and our communities 
that are working so hard to build forward this country as our economy--
our fragile economy--keeps rebounding. While it's rebounding forward, 
it could do a lot better with some help from the President and this 
Congress.

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