Bills Would Curb Job-Killing Currency Manipulation
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.
When foreign governments manipulate currency, they give producers in their country an unfair advantage. When a country's currency is devalued by 25 percent, that means U.S. exports are 25 percent overpriced by comparison, while our imports from that country are underpriced by the same amount. Not only does this unfair practice severely damage the U.S. manufacturing sector, it also means that workers in those countries suffer from reduced purchasing power themselves. The result on the U.S. trade deficit has been devastating—last year, the U.S. ran a trade deficit of more than $315 billion in trade in goods with China alone.
Congress must stand up for American manufacturing and put an end to the trade war being waged against working families and communities. Our country needs to create millions of good jobs now. We can no longer afford to be passive in the face of these illegal job-killing practices.
Read the full statement .
A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute explained how cracking down on currency manipulation would create jobs in the United States.
