Gail Russell Chaddock: Senate Hits China for Staling US Jobs!

In a rare bipartisan vote, the Senate o Monday voted 79 to 19 to take up a bill that would punish China for manipulating its currency, risking a potential trade war with the economic giant. Though prospects for the bill in the House are seen as uncertain, jobs lost due competition with China is a blistering issue for voters, especially in the nation's industrial heartland. The bill would impose tariffs on Chinese goods in response to China's policy of keeping its currency, the yuan, artificially low. The low value of the yuan keeps the price of Chinese goods low, giving them an advantage over American-made goods. Since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, the US has lost 2.8 million jobs as a result of increased trade with China, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The cumulative US trade deficit with China over the same period amounts to more than $1.76 trillion, according to the 2010 report of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The commission has highlighted the impact of currency manipulation in each of its annual reports to Congress. "Jobs and wealth are leaving the US and going to China, because China cheats," said Senator Charles Schumer, (D) of New York, in comments to reporters after the Oct. 3 vote. With its currency edge alone, "China grabs a 30 percent advantage."