One way to spur manufacturing jobs in the U.S. is to make Chinese Imports cost more on the U.S. market. Because China has the advantage of cheap labor and few labor laws, U.S. manufacturers were not able to compete on an equal footing.
Obama is doing something about that!
Obama has decided to enforce the US International Trade Commission's (USITC) recommendation that he impose tariffs on Chinese goods, starting with tires.
The U.S. economy is under attack by countries engaging in unfair trade. In the past decade, we’ve lost 40,000 manufacturing facilities. In just the 21 months since the Great Recession began, more than 2 million manufacturing workers have lost their jobs, making their unemployment rate 11.8 percent, significantly higher than the 9.7 percent rate for the average worker.
According to USW President Leo W. Gerard, This is great news:
President Obama used these safeguard rules to imposed tariffs on tires manufactured in China and imported into the U.S., following a recommendation by the International Trade Commission, an independent, bi-partisan group. The action made Obama the first president to execute sanctions under "Section 421."
The International Trade Commission recommended sanctions under "Section 421" four times before Obama took office. Nothing was done. The result was closed American factories, lost American manufacturing jobs, diminished American dreams.
Not this time though. Not this president. Obama showed he’s made of tougher stuff. By placing tariffs on imported Chinese tires, President Obama put himself in the line of fire for the jobs of U.S. workers, for the preservation of U.S. manufacturing and, ultimately, for the stabilization of the U.S. economy.
Let's cheer for U.S. manufacturing jobs returning to America!
Until the United States insists on balanced trade by tying the value of our imports from China to their imports from us, the Chinese government will continue to deliberately expand its trade deficit with us so that they can steal market share from our producers, American manufacturing workers will continue to lose their jobs, American steel workers will continue to see demand for their products shrink, and the American economy will continue to stagnate. This tire case could change all of that!