Copper and Brass Fabricators Council Urges Trade Remedy Against Currency Manipulation

WASHINGTON, March 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a written statement submitted to the Committee on Ways and Means of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Copper and Brass Fabricators Council ("Council") today urged that legislation be passed to address injury caused to U.S. domestic industry by imports from China and other countries with fundamentally undervalued currencies.  The full committee hearing, to be held on March 24, 2010, has been scheduled by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander M. Levin (D-MI) to consider the impact of China's exchange rate policy on the U.S. and global economic recoveries, including U.S. job creation, and what steps might be taken to address the issue.

The Council's President and General Counsel, David A. Hartquist, commented, "We are very pleased that Chairman Levin has called for this timely hearing on a subject of great importance and concern to the Council's members.  Competitive currency depreciation by China and other countries is a destabilizing practice that is causing serious imbalances in international trade and investment to the detriment of the U.S. economy and national security."

In its written statement, the Council advocates passage of H.R. 2378, The Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, which is a bipartisan bill that would treat undervalued fundamental misalignment of a currency as a prohibited export subsidy and would impose countervailing duties on injurious imports to offset the unfair advantage enjoyed by exporters from any country that engages in protracted, large-scale undervaluation of its currency.

Added Hartquist, "There is a general consensus among economists that China's currency, the renminbi, is undervalued between 20 percent and 50 percent or more, and China's foreign reserves are at least $2.4 trillion and more likely are about $3 trillion.  These imbalances are not sustainable, and U.S. companies are seriously disadvantaged by this practice.  A critical first step in the implementation of President Obama's plan for the United States to double exports in the next five years must be a meaningful revaluation of the renminbi.  Given that bilateral talks between the United States and China over the last five or six years and multilateral efforts by the International Monetary Fund have not succeeded, H.R. 2378 is a reasonable approach for the United States to take.  The Council believes that this measure is consistent with the international legal obligations of the United States at the International Monetary Fund and at the World Trade Organization."

About The Copper and Brass Fabricators Council

The Copper and Brass Fabricators Council, Inc. ("Council"), is a non-profit membership trade association that dates from 1964.  Membership is open to any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the fabrication or production in the United States of products made, in whole or in part, from copper or copper alloys.  The Council's member companies generally are engaged in the production of copper and copper alloy sheet and strip, rod and bar, plumbing tubing, OEM or air-conditioning tubing, wire, extrusions, shapes and profiles, forgings, and fittings.  These products are used chiefly in the automotive, construction and electrical/electronic industries.  The Council's eighteen member companies produce over 80 percent of all copper and brass mill products produced in the United States.  

SOURCE Copper & Brass Fabricators Council, Inc.