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Washington, D.C. – Congressman Pete Visclosky today joined 44 other bipartisan Members of Congress in sending a letter to President Obama urging him to support the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, a bill Visclosky cosponsored, and encouraging him to take a strong stand on currency manipulation. The letter was drafted in response to the Treasury Department’s failure to name China as a currency manipulator in a recent report to Congress. The following is the letter to President Obama:
November 5, 2009
The Honorable Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
We were both surprised and disappointed that the Treasury Department declined to name China as a currency manipulator in the October 15th report to Congress mandated by the 1988 Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act. The report’s finding that “no major trading partner of the United States met the standards” of manipulating its currency to gain an unfair advantage in its trade balance or balance of payments shows that our standards must be re-evaluated. In order for us to revitalize our economy, it is imperative that we recognize the actions that contributed to the current recession.
This past May, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers reintroduced the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, H.R. 2378, and S. 1027 on the Senate side. This bill would target exchange rate misalignment between the U.S. Dollar, Chinese Yuan and other major trading partners, in order to reduce the unnatural comparative advantages that command economies can use against market economies. We need to establish a firm approach to correcting this unfair trade practice, and defend American workers, industry and business that have been harmed by the unfair disadvantages in manufacturing and export that currency misalignment has created.
China continues to illegally subsidize products by a third of the costs by manipulating their currency to undercut American goods, and it’s important that the Treasury Department stands with the work we are doing in Congress to stop illegal and unfair trade. We urge your support of this legislation – as you did during the 110th Congress – and encourage you to take a strong stand on currency manipulation.
Thank you for your consideration of this request and we look forward to working with you on protecting American workers from unfair trade.
Sincerely,
PETE VISCLOSKY
Member of Congress |
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