AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released a statement today announcing support for the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2013 and its companion legislation in the House, the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act of 2013. Trumka warned that currency manipulation by foreign governments leads to the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States.

Signing more trade deals (also known as FTAs) as a way to create jobs? Meh. Seems unlikely, unless there is a radical change to the current trade model. The current model does much more than reduce tariffs (tariffs are taxes on imports). It also puts in place a bunch of rules that have made it advantageous for employers to move jobs offshore—resulting in unemployment, wage suppression and reduced union bargaining power. 

When you hear anyone from the big multinationals or Wall Street using the word “reform,” watch out! The way they use the word, it means give them more and We, the People, get less. They want to “reform” Social Security, “reform” Medicare and “reform” the income tax code. And now they want to “reform” the taxes corporations pay on money made outside the United States. It’s like “reforming” an oak tree with an ax.

Trade deficits matter: 2.7 million U.S. jobs have been lost over the past decade due to our nation’s growing trade deficit with China, according to a new report out today (click on chart to expand).

“The China Toll” also shows that between 2001—when China was admitted into the World Trade Organization—and 2011, the U.S. trade deficit with that nation eliminated or displaced 2.1 million manufacturing jobs. Those jobs represent more than half of all U.S. manufacturing jobs lost during that time.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka today said our national security depends on reviving the nation’s manufacturing and industrial base. He called for adding 4 million manufacturing jobs and eliminating the trade deficit within five years.  

In a wide-ranging speech at the Center for National Policy (CNP), Trumka said economic strength is crucial to America’s national security and economic standing, and manufacturing is central to economic strength. That’s a connection that most people understand, he said.

A new paper by the Brookings Institute outlines why a healthy manufacturing sector is a vital component of the nation’s economy; what type of manufacturing industries matter the most and the key areas that needed to be strengthened to build high-wage and exportable products.

Dave Johnson, a fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future, sends us this.

The new U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report on China should be a “wake-up call” for the United States, says Scott Paul, director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM). Click here to read the full report and here for a comprehensive list of the commission’s recommendations beginning on page 355 of the report.

The U.S. Senate today will vote on a bill (S. 1619) to hold China accountable for its job-killing practice of currency manipulation. According to new data, 2.8 million American jobs were lost or displaced over the past decade due to the growing U.S. trade deficit with China—fueled by Chinese currency manipulation. (Call your senators today and urge them to vote for S. 1619 or click HERE to e-mail your senators.)

Dave Johnson, a fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future, sends us this.

The Take Back the  American Dream conference opened Tuesday with a discussion on the “Contract for the American Dream.” Deepak Bhargava of the Center for Community Change began by saying that there is a movement in America today and it’s not the tea party—it’s the American Dream Movement. People are working to build a huge movement that can meet this huge moment.

Next week, the U.S. Senate will take up consideration of a bill to address Chinese currency manipulation. The Republican-controlled House is holding up its version of the legislation, even though it passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2010, with 99 Republicans supporting it.