In case you didn't get the memo, Asian countries manipulate currency.  No one denies this.  When a country devalues currency, it is just like a subsidy.  It makes that country's products cheaper on the world market as if the government wrote a big subsidy check to every exporting company in the economy (which companies in China are often government owned or controlled anyway). 

Trade law allows us to use countervailing duties and antidumping duties to offset unlawful subsidies elsewhere.  Currency is not treated as a subsidy under U.S. trade law now, but it should.  Two bills would fix the problem, right here at home.

H.R. 2942 and S. 796 are broadly supported, but the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways & Means Committtee, the relevant committees with jurisdiction, have not marked up those bills.  Look for more in the coming days on helping push these bills through Congress.  The Coalition for a Prosperous America is ramping up its efforts on the issue.

You should join CPA, by the way, if you want to help save the country from bad trade policies.  We can't just let Wall Street have all the fun.

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