[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18894]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           U.S. TRADE POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, the United States has just announced the 
second highest monthly trade deficit for this year, $60 billion. That 
is just in the month of May. Our Nation continues to import more goods 
and services than we export at alarming rates, with a record $192 
billion more coming into this country in the earlier part of this year 
than going out.
  This particular chart shows the top category of concern, imported 
petroleum, which has continued to rise, including in this Presidential 
administration, despite President Bush's statement at the beginning of 
his administration that we have a serious problem. America is addicted 
to oil, which is being imported from some of the most unstable parts of 
the world. He said that, and yet he continued to allow the import of 
more petroleum.
  Americans are watching as our government does nothing to curb these 
growing trade deficits, with their accompanying job losses, 
deteriorating labor conditions and community washouts that U.S. trade 
policy leaves in its wake.
  A bill I have sponsored, H.R. 169, the Balancing Trade Act of 2007, 
requires the President, if over 3 consecutive calendar years the United 
States has a trade deficit with another country that totals over $10 
billion, to take the necessary steps to create a trading relationship 
that would eliminate or substantially reduce that trade deficit by 
entering into better agreements with that country. In other words, if 
the United States runs a substantial deficit with any one country, the 
President must report back to Congress on his plans for correcting that 
imbalance. This is a very constructive first step to correct the path 
of U.S. trade policy which is yielding this red ink.
  Our bill calls attention to those countries who are taking advantage 
of our willingness to import goods from them while they block our 
access to their markets. Our two largest deficits in 2006, for example, 
were first with China. This is a country we have amassed a $232.5 
billion deficit. That is an enormous amount, comprising about a quarter 
of what we have amassed with all countries in the world. And the 
deficit with China has just grown at alarming proportions.
  The next largest deficit is with Japan. That has been a lingering 
deficit that has been growing over the years. It now totals about one-
third of what we accumulate with China; it's about $88.4 billion. And 
every billion in deficit equals a loss of between 10,000 and 20,000 
jobs in this country. That is a displacement in production in this 
country, putting it someplace else.
  Now, these deficits have persisted for years, which makes them 
particularly troublesome. This chart illustrates our deficit with China 
pre and post what is called ``normal trade relations'' with China. We 
had a very bad deficit already back in the late 1990s, but with the 
adoption of permanent trade relations with China, that deficit has more 
than doubled.
  If we had taken steps to correct this deficit at the beginning of the 
downward turn rather than turning our backs on it and allowing more red 
ink with China, our country would be stronger today. It would not have 
the kind of annual budget deficits that we're having. And we would be 
more economically secure here at home and, frankly, politically secure 
in the world. Instead, we continue to sacrifice our jobs to the lowest 
bidders in closed markets that do not follow rules of free trade. Free 
trade can be productive and it can be profitable, but only if it is 
free trade among free people.
  Trading with closed economies that manipulate currency, that choose 
not to enforce what scant labor standards they might have, and 
otherwise levy very restrictive non-tariff barriers against our 
products harm our economy. America, wake up. We can no longer ignore 
the games that our competition is playing with us. We must trade for 
America; not for secret, nontransparent governments to prosper off our 
unwillingness to hold them to democratic standards or, at the very 
least, the rules of truly free trade among free people.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in requiring the President to address 
this issue by cosponsoring our bill, H.R. 169. We must take action to 
reduce the trade deficit and restore our economic independence, 
competitiveness and begin creating jobs across our country again.

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