Owens: China needs to 'play by the rules'

Plattsburgh Democrat Bill Owens continued his effort to get China to stop manipulating its currency last week, calling on the country to "play by the rules of fair trade."

Rep. Owens, citing a Wall Street Journal article that reported the People's Bank of China was keeping its currency weak, said Congress must crack down on currency manipulation, something he said will create more American jobs.

"Fair trade is critical to economic growth in Upstate New York, and when one country artificially deflates its currency to gain leverage in the world market, there is nothing fair about it," Owens said in a press release. "I once again urge the Speaker to bring this legislation up for a vote as soon as possible so that it can be sent to the President's desk. In order to create quality jobs here at home, we have to fight for a level playing field for American businesses to expand and hire."

Owens said the Chinese government "continues to intervene in world markets to suppress the value of its currency by as much as 25 to 40 percent." He said that practice "translates into a significant subsidy, artificially making Chinese imports into the United States cheaper and American imports to China more expensive."

That manipulation, Owens said, "jeopardizes efforts to create and preserve manufacturing jobs in America."

Here's more from the press release:

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) estimated last year that if China revalued the Yuan by 28.5%, U.S. GDP growth would support 1,631,000 U.S. jobs. If other Asian countries followed suit, a total of 2,250,000 jobs could be created. The EPI further estimates that nearly 2.8 million Americans have lost their jobs in the past decade due to the nation's trade deficit with China.

Mark Zandi of Moody Analytics testified last year that, "nothing is more important from a macroeconomic perspective for manufacturing, then to get these currencies better aligned."