United Steelworkers' (USW) President Leo W. Gerard said Thursday that China has continued large subsidies to its own industries that hurt U.S. manufacturers.
“Anywhere you look, by almost any measure, the U.S.-China relationship is moving in the wrong direction,” Gerard said.
The 2006 annual report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission that was released Thursday shows that China has been inconsistent in meeting the obligations incurred when it entered into the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to the USW. The Commission was directed by Congress to study the national security implications of bilateral trade between the U.S. and China.
China has continued to use subsidies to encourage the manufacture of export goods and to secure foreign investment in manufacturing, according to the report.
China’s failure to protect copyrights, inventions, brands and trade secrets by not enforcing intellectual property rights is also cited by the report as an example of China’s noncompliance with WTO rules.
“Our manufacturers here at home are finding it harder and harder to compete against an economic system in China that is built on oppressed workers, subsidized inputs and capital, stolen intellectual property and other unfair advantages,” Gerard said.
Also, the trade relationship between China and the U.S. is imbalanced. China is expected to export $284.9 billion worth of goods to the U.S., up from 2005’s $243.4 billion. U.S. exports to China are expected to be $56 billion this year, up from last year’s $41.8 billion.
The complete report is available at www.uscc.gov/.