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Schumer to Press China for Trade, Currency Reforms

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 March 2006, 18:00 CST

By Douglas Cunningham, The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y.

Mar. 16--In what will be his first trip abroad on the government's tab, Sen. Charles Schumer Wednesday announced he'll visit China next week to press for changes in China's trade and currency policies.

Schumer has been a sharp critic of administration policy toward China. Anger is growing in Congress over the trade and currency matter, as Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez warned this week.

"Our industrial base is bleeding away in upstate New York," said Schumer, D-NY. "What is one of the factors, one of the major factors, in this?

China's currency manipulation ... saying China doesn't manipulate currency is saying the sky is not blue."

Schumer also released figures showing upstate New York had lost some 104,000 manufacturing jobs over the past five years, which he blamed directly on China's currency policies. Joining Schumer on the trip will Senators Lindsay Graham, R-SC, and Tom Coburn, R-OK; the trip will be from March 19 to 26.

According to Schumer's calculations, Orange County lost some 3,000 manufacturing jobs from January 2001 to January 2006, to 12,300 currently, or a 20 percent decline. Ulster fell by 2,100 jobs, to 4,300, a 33 percent decline. Sullivan actually showed an increase, from 900 to 1,100 jobs, or 22 percent more.

China tightly controls where its currency trades in relation to other currencies. The effect, said Schumer, is to make "their exports to America 30 percent cheaper, and our exports to them 30 percent more expensive."

The "Schumer-Graham China Free Trade Act" is due for a vote this month, and would slap a 27.5 percent tariff on Chinese goods if the Chinese refuse to allow their currency to float at market levels. And next month, Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, is due to visit the United States.

As to the chance of success, Schumer said, "We have more leverage than the administration. The Chinese very much don't want our legislation to pass."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y.

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Source: The Times Herald-Record (Middletown, New York)

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