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(04/22/10) Sen. Sherrod Brown Discusses Prestowitz's New Book on The Ed Show |
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The Ed Show, April 22, 2010
MR. SCHULTZ: So what cards can we play other than we say, "Okay, we're not taking your goods anymore"?
SEN. BROWN: Well, that's the card we ultimately play. You know, American corporations, who lobbied here 10 years ago for that normal trade relations and then say they have to go to China because they can't compete unless they've outsourced jobs, those companies are going to oppose this. But that's the way it goes. I mean, it's something we need to do.
Good news this week: Both Brazil and India made the same charges about Chinese currency that Lindsey Graham -- we've got good bipartisan support on this -- Lindsey Graham and I and others have been making against what China has done on currency too. So I think, to do this right, we don't want to do it unilaterally against China. We want -- and I don't want to say for and against, because it's not Chinese workers I'm fighting against. It's a government that clearly has gamed the system; and having allies of Mexico and Brazil and India, particularly large countries like Brazil and India, that align with China on a lot of things, saying, "This isn't fair. You've got to start playing it straight. You've got to start appreciating your currency."
One of the economists today, Clyde Prestowitz, has just written a book called "The Betrayal of American Prosperity," said that this is -- they undervalue their currency 40 percent. That means that a manufacturer like a paper company today -- a guy named Mark Suwyn came in and testified, the CEO of NewPage out of -- near Dayton, Ohio, Miamisburg, Ohio, said that his company has got a 40 percent disadvantage in price if they're -- and you imagine how expensive it is to ship paper over here because it's so heavy for the cost of the paper.
Click Here to read the complete transcript at MSNBC.
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