NEW: Cicilline Opposes China's ‘Unfair’ Trade Practices

NEW: Cicilline Opposes China's ‘Unfair’ Trade Practices

U.S. Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) spoke out against China's "unfair" trade practices and their impact on employment in Rhode Island at a U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing this week.

Cicilline questioned the U.S. International Trade Commission's Acting Director for answers on what the U.S. is doing to secure American businesses in a global economy threatened by Chinese indigenous innovation and trade policies.

"Indigenous innovation is only one category among many practices that the Chinese undertake to discriminate against U.S. exports and illegally promote their own exports," Cicilline said in his Committee statement.

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The Congressman reminded the Acting Director that, from 2001-2008 Rhode Islanders lost over 10,000 jobs due to trade with China. Currently, the Chinese government keeps their currency artificially low compared to the U.S. dollar, making Chinese imports cheaper than U.S. goods — contributing significantly to a global trade imbalance that negatively affects U.S. businesses and workers. Cicilline recently co-sponsored the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act of 2011, which seeks to correct this imbalance.

"I have grave concerns about other unfair practices such as currency manipulation, theft of intellectual property, hoarding rare earth minerals for competitive advantage, and many other actions which violate WTO mandates," Cicilline said.

Cicilline also raised questions about Chinese tactics that involve the ability of the U.S. government to track Chinese regulatory policies that have contributed to the U.S.'s massive trade deficit with China. He asked what action our government will take to ensure a level playing field for U.S. businesses in the global economy.

Cicilline’s questions

Cicilline prepared the following questions:

■ My questions for our panelists today are whether the U.S. government has the capabilities and resources to track developments in China with respect to the complex web of policies, practices and regulations that cause us to run a massive trade deficit with China?

■ Do we have the resources to hold the Chinese accountable on this front?

■ And furthermore, what can we do to prevent U.S. firms from off-shoring production? Is there foreign direct investment (FDI) in China that, by contrast, generates employment in the U.S.?

■ What kind of retaliatory mechanisms do we have at our disposal?

■ Aside from filing dispute resolutions with the WTO, what are other steps we can take to ensure that there is a level playing field for American businesses and that China is playing by the rules?