[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4298]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         JANUARY TRADE DEFICIT

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, the Commerce Department just announced that 
America's trade deficit for January 2017 was $48.5 billion, the largest 
monthly deficit since March 2012. That translates into more lost jobs 
in our country.
  In the campaign, President Trump criticized our trade deals. He 
promised to do better for American workers. And now, nearly 2 months 
into his Presidency, what action has he taken to stop the erosion of 
this deficit and the jobs that go with them?
  It continues to get worse.
  What hope can he give to the hundreds and hundreds more steelworkers 
in Lorain, Ohio, who just received pink slips over the weekend due to 
the permanent closure of another steel line, due to Chinese imports and 
predatory trade practice?
  It is going to put a lot of steelworkers back to work, President 
Trump said during the campaign and after as he revived the Keystone and 
Dakota Access pipelines. But his talk turned out to be empty and a pipe 
dream because the pipes have already been purchased from foreign 
sources.
  Next month, China's President, Xi Jinping, will visit President Trump 
at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. President Trump talked tough on China 
throughout the campaign, but what will he do to reform Chinese trade 
practices that are resulting in these increasing trade deficits?
  Mr. Speaker, I hope our President begins to keep the long list of 
campaign promises that he made to working people across this country, 
reverses these deficits, and starts increasing good jobs again.

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