AMTAC supports congressional call for new direction for trade policy

08 Mar '07

3 min read

At a press conference held in the U.S. Capitol, the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC) joined U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), and Representatives Mike Michaud (D-ME), Walter B. Jones (R-NC), and Linda Sanchez (D-CA) among others in calling for a new direction in trade policy.

With a record U.S. trade deficit of $763 billion in 2006, the loss of three million U.S. manufacturing jobs since 2001, Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) set to expire this summer, and U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement negotiations entering their final stages, trade policy has become a topic for increased debate in Congress.

“The U.S. government must use its control of access to the U.S. market as leverage to level the playing field for U.S. industry. A comprehensive approach, including remedying the disadvantage to U.S. producers caused by foreign value-added-taxes, is needed to reduce the trade deficit and to restore American competitiveness in sectors of the economy subject to import competition like manufacturing,” said AMTAC Director of Membership and Media Outreach Lloyd Wood.

Besides focusing on important issues like defeating TPA to restore congressional accountability to trade policy and combating foreign currency manipulation and/or misalignment, it is AMTAC's view that the U.S. government and Congress urgently must address the crippling disadvantage to U.S. producers caused by foreign value-added taxes (VAT) taxes.

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