In 2011, the U.S. trade deficit in goods with China was more than $ 217 billion. Trade with China accounts for a whopping 60 percent of the U.S. global trade deficit. That deficit has cost 2.8 million American jobs—1.9 million of them in the critical manufacturing sector, a historic path to the middle class for hardworking Americans.
What’s happening in the solar power industry puts the problem in perspective. Solar is a growth industry: It’s a clean energy source (adding zero pollution to our air) and it’s creating thousands of jobs—in China. That country has nearly 60 percent of the world’s solar energy production capacity. In the United States, which should be taking the lead in a high-tech growth industry like solar, seven companies that have experienced either bankruptcy, plant closure, or announced layoffs in 2010 and 2011—and 2,000 Americans lost their jobs as a result. (Click here to read more about declines in the U.S. solar industry.)
This trend is not limited to solar. Read more .
A staggering 2.8 million jobs, largely in manufacturing, have been lost as a result of the growing U.S. trade deficit with China since that country's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001.
It’s been four years since low-wage workers got a raise. Sign the petition to tell Congress it’s time to raise the minimum wage.
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