July 29, 2008: Kaptur Decries Loss of 2.3 Million American Jobs to China

“The communist government of China captures the gold medal forunfair trade practices,” she said, citing a report by the EconomicPolicy Institute (EPI) that revealed the growing U.S. trade deficitwith China has cost our economy 2.3 million jobs between 2001 and 2007,including 366,000 last year alone.

“This report illustrates how trade with closed economies isn’t freetrade at all. We are sacrificing our values and selling our security tothe lowest bidder,” Kaptur said.

The report notes that more than half the jobs displaced by trade withChina (55.6 percent) were held by the top half of American wageearners. Almost one in three jobs lost to China (31 percent) were heldwas among workers with a college degree.

“The EPI report further destroys the myth that China is sending us onlydangerous toys and Christmas ornaments,” said Congresswoman Kaptur.“They are steadily ascending the commanding heights of the economiclandscape, using every tool at their disposal, from prison labor tocurrency manipulation to theft of intellectual property toenvironmental plunder.

“When will America wake up to this threat?”

Kaptur further cited research by Dr. Charles McMillion, chief economistfor MBG Information Services, that while China’s real annual grossdomestic product has averaged 10.2 percent since admission to the WorldTrade Organization in 2002, growth in industrial production hasaveraged 15.5 percent compared to 1.8 percent in the United States.

Despite this hyper-growth, China’s current account surplus has climbedfrom 1.3% of GDP in 2001 to 12.3% in 2007. As a result, she said, Chinaover the past six years has accumulated global current accountsurpluses of almost one trillion dollars ($932 billion).

“The Chinese have more than enough foreign reserves to buy whateverassets they want on the world market—whether it’s oil in Africa orinvestment banks in the United States.”