Over two decades ago, the U.S. paved the way for the People’s Republic of China to become a member of the World Trade Organization by granting China permanent normal trade relations status, meaning our trade rules with them would match the best we offer to any of our trade partners.
The hope by some was that by integrating the PRC into the rules-based international trade system, we could normalize its economic behavior and, perhaps, encourage respect for human, labor and political rights.
The past 20 years demonstrate this strategy has been a failure.
Since the beginning of this year, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party has conducted extensive hearings and investigations. What it has found regarding PRC trade practices is highly concerning.
The Chinese government has continued “dumping” steel and other goods in the U.S. market, subsidizing production at prices designed to drive our domestic producers out of business.
It has required U.S. businesses in the PRC to transfer their technology to their domestic partners, and they have stolen billions of dollars in intellectual property through computer hacking and other nefarious practices.
As part of an ongoing genocide against the Uyghur people, there is clear evidence the Chinese Communist Party is employing forced labor to produce cotton and other fabrics for use by PRC-based companies that underprice other clothing retailers.
And, in recent months, U.S. businesses in the PRC have been raided, and their employees have even been prevented from leaving the country. Some even face targeted bans on their products.
An Illinois company pays the price
These are not “normal” trade practices. And they increasingly put U.S. businesses and workers at a strong disadvantage as they attempt to compete.
Here’s a specific example: Brad Foote Gear Works is a manufacturer in Cicero, Illinois. Several years ago, its plant employed as many as 500 workers. Today, they have only 80 to 90 employees.
This is not for lack of investment or the will to compete. Twelve years ago, the company invested $50 million to make gears for wind turbines to take advantage of the move toward renewable energy. Yet, despite that investment, they’re barely holding their own.
A major reason is that the Chinese Communist Party’s policies and massive subsidies have propelled its own producers over U.S. firms, shut the U.S. out of China’s wind market, driven down world prices and caused lost sales in the U.S. market.
In the face of these unfair practices, we must do more to foster manufacturing in the U.S. This starts with smart, targeted trade enforcement to defend American workers from illegal subsidies and anti-competitive practices.
In order to make America more competitive and counter these practices, we also need to invest in our workers. According to the Government Accountability Office, the U.S. spends less than 0.1 percent of our country’s gross domestic product on job training, while our competitors in Europe spend nearly four times that amount. Unsurprisingly, this has resulted in nearly 10 million U.S. jobs going unfilled because we lack workers with the skills to fill them.
We must expand our nation’s career and technical education system, especially for the two-thirds of Americans who don’t pursue a four-year college degree. This requires investing in our trade schools, community colleges and high school vocational programs and linking them to the good jobs of today and tomorrow. It also means embracing apprenticeship programs sponsored by businesses and unions.
Finally, we must continue to invest in our nation’s economic future by rebuilding our infrastructure, expanding clean energy sources and bringing manufacturing back to our shores. And we should insist that tax dollars spent for these purposes go to American businesses and workers.
We can counter the worst of China’s trade practices through tougher rules and enforcement and by making sure our businesses and workers are competing on a level playing field. The only thing we can’t afford to do is wait.
Steve Kramer is president of Local 9777 of the United Steelworkers Union. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi is the ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Select Committee on China.
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