[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 18246]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    THE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS BY THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION

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                           HON. PHIL ENGLISH

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 27, 2005

  Mr. ENGLISH. I rise to provide clarifying remarks about the reporting 
requirements by the International Trade Commission, related to China's 
exchange rate regime. The intention is that Congress be provided with a 
report that will better inform us in the exercise of our policy-making 
responsibilities on these issues.
  Section 8 calls for a study from the U.S. International Trade 
Commission within 12 months, regarding the trade and economic relations 
between the United States and the People's Republic of China. We want 
the ITC to look closely at the effect of China's economic policies on 
our trade with China, as well as other factors that affect U.S.-China 
trade, with a focus on key U.S. industries that compete with Chinese 
producers or service providers.
  Among other things, we would like the ITC to examine the relationship 
of China's foreign exchange rate regime to its financial, trade, 
foreign investment, and industrial policies. We believe these policies 
are all interrelated and would like an explanation of how they operate 
and how they are related to one another. The ITC should discuss not 
only the regime of a fixed peg to the U.S. dollar that China has 
maintained in recent years, but China's recently announced revaluation 
and peg to a basket of currencies, as well as any further modifications 
in their foreign exchange rate regime.
  The ITC should also describe the range of expert opinion concerning 
China's foreign exchange rate regime and U.S. and Chinese trade 
patterns and the U.S. economy in general. We expect the ITC to focus on 
the area of its expertise, i.e. trade issues, and leave questions 
related to appropriate currency policy to those institutions better 
suited to answer such questions, such as the U.S. Department of 
Treasury.
  However, we want the Commission to provide additional analyses, to 
the extent feasible, that may help us better understand the nature of 
the relationship between the currency regime and U.S. China trade 
flows, particularly if the ITC thinks such analysis might help other 
institutions provide better analysis of broader policy questions. The 
ITC should certainly consult with the Department of the Treasury, the 
President's Council on Economic Advisors, and the Congressional Budget 
Office, all of which have performed economic analyses on currency 
matters.

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