Opposition Democrats in the US House of Representatives introduced a bill on Thursday aiming to cut the massive trade deficit with China by targeting what they called unfair trade practices.
"The unrelenting, sky-high trade deficits with China reflect a failure by the Bush administration to adopt trade policies that promote the interests of US workers, businesses and farmers," said Representative Charles Rangel, one of the sponsors.
"We can't keep whistling into the wind and ignoring these deficits. They are undermining our economy and causing hard-working Americans to lose jobs," he said.
Although introduction of a bill does not guarantee passage, the move highlighted the growing discontent in Congress over China, which has been accused of manipulating its currency to help exports and squelching competition through use of state-controlled companies.
The bill would allow US workers and businesses to challenge Chinese subsidies to manufactured and agricultural exports.
It would also make clear that "currency manipulation" is an unfair trade practice.
The bill would also revive the "Super 301" provisions of US law to direct the administration to identify barriers to US exports and other unfair practices, including failure to protect intellectual property rights.
The action comes as the US trade deficit with China reached US$15.8 billion in May, the highest this year and third-highest on record.
Rangel said US President George W. Bush has failed to get a level playing field with the Chinese.
"Time is up, and the Bush administration's China trade policy has flunked every test," he said.
"The growth in China's economy is one of the most important and predictable developments of the 21st century and yet the Bush administration is like a deer caught in the headlights," Rangel said.
"Since the president has no viable policy for dealing with trade with China, Congress must step in on behalf of America's working families and small businesses," he said.
Meanwhile, House Republicans introduced their own legislation to monitor China's trade practices -- the US Trade Rights Enforcement Act -- which would impose tariffs on nonmarket economies such as China's.
The bill, introduced by Republican Representative Phil English, also would monitor Beijing's compliance with its trade obligations on a variety of issues, including intellectual property rights, market access for US goods, services, and agriculture.
The bill would also call on Bush to issue semi-annual reports to Congress on specific steps taken by the Chinese government to comply with the requirements in the bill.
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