Free Trade. Why Don't We Call a Spade a Spade?
American Machinist
We should rename ‘free trade’. Because it isn’t free and it isn’t fair. Since it’s trade that’s regulated in favor of multinational special interest groups, why don’t we call it for what it is: How about ‘rigged market trade’ or ‘turn your back on your fellow countrymen trade’ or ‘throw American workers out on the street trade’.  FULL ARTICLE

A New Voice for Manufacturing
Foundry Management, September 2007
When multinational corporate interests shower Washington with hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions and lobbying efforts, they get what they want at the expense of ordinary citizens... FULL ARTICLE

New National Manufacturing Association Finds A Niche With Free Trade Angst: An Interview With Tooling, Manufacturing & Technologies Association President Rob Dumont
Manufacturing & Technology News, August 27, 2007
When the Michigan Tooling Association decided earlier this year to become a national trade association aimed at tackling issues associated with free and fair trade, it knew it wasn't going to be easy attracting members and gaining a foothold in Washington. But the group, now known as the Tooling, Manufacturing & Technologies Association (TMTA), has had some success. In seven months, it has gone from representing members located only in Michigan with 22,000 employees, to having members in 21 states representing 49,000 employees. FULL ARTICLE

Why China Won’t Revalue
by: Peter Morici
An undervalued yuan offers Beijing great advantages but imposes significant costs on the U.S. economy. That is not likely to change anytime soon, because those costs are not apparent to many Americans feasting on cheap imports, and President Bush and the Congress lack the courage to act effectively.  FULL ARTICLE

U.S. Records $193 Billion First Quarter Current Account Deficit Taxing U.S. Growth
by: Peter Morici
Today, the Commerce Department reported the first quarter current account deficit was $192.6 billion, up from $187.9 billion in the fourth quarter. The deficit was 5.7 percent of GDP. The consensus forecast was $203 billion, and my published forecast was 195.8. FULL ARTICLE

Testimony of John Johnston, Partner, Modern Metal Cutting, LLC
Before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Tourism & the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
United States Senate, April 18, 2007
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, and thank you for the opportunity to testify on the vital question “Is ‘Free Trade’ Working?” The short answer is “no” and I’ll explain why in a minute.  FULL ARTICLE 

Rangel Blasts NAM On Trade
By Ian Swanson, April 20, 2007, The Hill
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) Thursday blasted the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), claiming it is distorting Democratic demands on U.S. trade policy and labor law.   FULL ARTICLE

Trade issues cause schism between NAM and American manufacturers
Manufacturing Business Technology, April 2007, Views from the front: Domestic Manufacturing
Two new industry associations have emerged in the wake of a National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) board vote last fall, which actually went against an earlier membership vote.  FULL ARTICLE

Trade association changes name to expand its reach
By:Alan Richter, Cutting Tool Engineering, March 2007, Industry News
To more effectively influence legislators on Capitol Hill, the Michigan Tooling Association recently changed its name to the Tooling, Manufacturing & Technologies Association and is seeking membership throughout the U.S.  FULL ARTICLE

Small tooling shops have a new voice in Washington
By: Kathleen McLaughlin, Stamping Journal, March 2007, Meet the Press
Fed up with the National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) stance regarding China’s currency manipulation and multi-national-friendly policies, the Michigan Tooling Association made a bold move and changed its name to the Tooling, Manufacturing & Technologies Association (TMTA) to represent small and medium-size manufacturers.  FULL ARTICLE

Tooling association changes name, takes on China
By: Kathleen McLaughlin, Stamping Journal, March 2007, News & Notes
Frustrated with China’s currency manipulation and lobbying efforts of national manufacturing associations, the 74-year-old Michigan Tooling Association voted on Dec. 21, 2006, to change its name to the Tooling, Manufacturing & Technologies Association (TMTA).  FULL ARTICLE

Behind The Sound Bites Of Republican Presidential Hopeful Rep. Duncan Hunter: U.S. Multinationals Have Become Chinese Corporations
Manufacturing & Technology News, March 13, 2007 Vol. 14, No. 5
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), a 2008 candidate for President of the United States, sounds like an anti-free trade populist these days. But he's got reason. As former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee he experienced first-hand the difficulties the military is facing when it comes to arming its forces with American-made weaponry. The United States secured the freedom of the world three times during the last century -- winning World Wars I and II, and prevailing in the Cold War -- because of its "Arsenal of Democracy," he says. The U.S. industrial base was able to turn out an Air Force bomber once every hour. "They could have built the entire bomber force of B-2 aircraft, which numbers 21, in one day and had three hours left over," he says. FULL ARTICLE

Bush Decision In Favor of Chinese Imports Leads to Loss of 500 Very Good American Jobs
By: Richard McCormack, Manufacturing & Technology News, March 29, 2007, Volume 14, No. 6 
Thank you, President Bush, for killing 500 good-paying American jobs -- the ones that earn between $50,000 and $60,000 a year -- and allowing the United States to become dependent on China for many of the components used to transport fresh water into people's homes and businesses. That's the message from McWane Inc., of Birmingham, Ala., the country's largest provider of ductile waterworks fittings with 7,000 employees. FULL ARTICLE 

Behind The Sound Bites Of Republican Presidential Hopeful Rep. Duncan Hunter: U.S. Multinationals Have Become Chinese Corporations
Manufacturing Technology News, March 13, 2007 Vol. 14, No. 5
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), a 2008 candidate for President of the United States, sounds like an anti-free trade populist these days. But he's got reason. As former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee he experienced first-hand the difficulties the military is facing when it comes to arming its forces with American-made weaponry. The United States secured the freedom of the world three times during the last century -- winning World Wars I and II, and prevailing in the Cold War -- because of its "Arsenal of Democracy," he says. The U.S. industrial base was able to turn out an Air Force bomber once every hour. "They could have built the entire bomber force of B-2 aircraft, which numbers 21, in one day and had three hours left over," he says. FULL ARTICLE

Stabenow, Bunning Introduce CVD Bill In Senate Targeting Currency Manipulation
Daily Report for Executives, March 8, 2007, Regulation & Law; International Trade
Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) announced March 7 they were introducing legislation targeting currency manipulation such as that allegedly taking place in China and Japan.

The "Fair Currency Act of 2007" (bill number unavailable) would make "exchange rate misalignment" a prohibited subsidy subject to countervailing duties, regardless of whether another country had the intent to manipulate currency rates. It would also clarify that countervailing duties apply to nonmarket economies such as China's.

The bill would also prohibit the Department of Defense from procuring products from a Chinese source if it is determined that a U.S. product facing Chinese competition is critical to the U.S. defense industrial base and facing market disruption. FULL ARTICLE

China Currency Bill Is Toned Down, Gaining Support
By: Martin Vaughan, National Journal’s, CongressDailyPM, February 22, 2007
A bill that would let U.S. manufacturers petition for tariffs to offset the effect of China's undervalued yuan is picking up speed, as key lawmakers in the House and Senate weigh legislation to tackle the currency issue. House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander Levin, D-Mich., told reporters last week that he will consider the House bill from Reps. Timothy Ryan, D-Ohio, and Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., among options for currency legislation. Levin also implied that reservations he has had about whether the bill violates global trading rules might have been tempered. "There is a much, much different attitude than last year," Ryan said in an interview this week regarding the prospects for the bill in the Ways and Means Committee. Ryan declared himself "very optimistic" that the House will pass some form of China legislation this year, although he added, "Whether it's the Ryan-Hunter bill to the periods and dots in the legislation, I don't know."    FULL ARTICLE

Democrats, White House Clash on Trade
By: Peter S. Goodman, Washington Post Staff Writer, February 15, 2007
For a time yesterday, it seemed as if a new bipartisan spirit was flowering between the Bush administration and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill over trade policy. Until, that is, flowers themselves entered the conversation during a Valentine's Day hearing.

The U.S. trade representative, Susan C. Schwab, told the House Ways and Means Committee that she was eager to find a compromise that would satisfy Democrats demanding stricter labor protections in proposed trade deals with Colombia, Peru and Panama. She cited the benefits of expanded trade, noting that U.S. exports are booming, the economy is growing and unemployment is low. FULL ARTICLE

Guest Editorial: Rep. Duncan Hunter On Unfair Trade
From Manufacturing & Technology New, January 23, 2007
When we got into World War II, our allies and our adversaries realized very quickly that America had an arsenal of democracy. We had a great industrial base. We had an industrial base in which our major automakers were able to turn immediately to making tanks and personnel carriers and all the other equipment of war.

In my own home town in San Diego, we had a facility you can still see if you drive down by the harbor that used to turn out a bomber aircraft every 60 minutes. They could have built the entire B-2 force in one day and had three hours left over.

Everywhere across this land we had a strong industrial base, which was transformed into a wartime footing. It was with the support of that industrial base that the armies of the United States moved across Europe, that the Marine Corps and the armies moved across the Pacific, and that we brought this war to a conclusion that favored the United States of America. An arsenal of democracy is pretty important to democracies.  FULL ARTICLE

The coming showdown on trade
By: Robert Kuttner, The Boston Globe, February 3, 2007
GET READY FOR a revolution in trade politics. This week, President Bush reiterated his call for authority to make more trade deals, which expires June 30. He went on the road for a photo-op at a Caterpillar Tractor plant, arguing that trade deals promote exports. But in the new Congress, extension of current "fast track" negotiating authority is a dead letter.

The entering class of Democrats are nearly all fair-traders, demanding much more balanced rules for the trading system. Thirty-nine of the 42 freshman Democrats in the House recently sent a letter to the Democratic leadership warning their leaders off the Bush trade agenda. FULL ARTICLE

Tooling group, in dispte with Engler-led group, goes national
By Sheena Harrison, Crain's Business Detroit, January 8, 2007
Frustration over Chinese outsourcing and currency valuation is causing a rift between former Gov. John Engler and Michigan tooling companies who say they need protection from global market pressures sooner rather than later.

The Farmington Hills-based Michigan Tooling Association has changed its name to the Tooling, Manufacturing & Technologies Association, and has begun accepting membership from outside the state.

Association President Rob Dumont said the association is opening itself up in order to gain numbers and increase its clout with legislators regarding outsourcing and trade issues.

“We felt we had to become aggressive in our efforts to have an impact in Washington,” Dumont said. FULL ARTICLE

A Stirring National Debate Over Trade: Michigan Tooling Association Changes It Name And Broadens Its Reach To Take On NAM
Manufacturing & Technology News, January 5, 2007 Vol. 14, No. 1
The 670-member Michigan Tooling Association is taking a great leap forward and is planting itself on the national landscape. Driven by growing resentment among manufacturing business owners over the escalating trade deficit and the perceived unwillingness of the federal government and national trade associations to represent the interests of domestic manufacturers, the 74-year-old tooling group has changed its name to the Tooling, Manufacturing & Technologies Association (TMTA). It is seeking members from outside Michigan and will conduct an aggressive campaign to wrestle control of the trade agenda in Washington away from multinational corporations.

"The multinationals have way, way, way too much influence in Washington and that has got to change," says Rob Dumont, president and CEO of the re-named group. "Right now, trade policy is not dictated by Congress. It's dictated by the multinationals based on making a quick buck in the short term. You cannot have the trade deficits we have with total and absolute disregard for people. It is destined to fail."   FULL ARTICLE

Congress - The Trade Gap for Democrats
Martin Vaughan, National Journal, January 6, 2007
During a December briefing on the economy by former top Clinton administration officials Robert Rubin and Gene Sperling, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., got some early -- and perhaps unexpected -- insight into what is on the minds of the 42 freshman House Democrats.

At Pelosi's invitation, Rubin spoke at length to the House Democratic Caucus about the fiscal challenges facing the country, including the growth of entitlement programs and the need for tax reform. The former Treasury secretary also talked about the global economy, China's emergence, and the widening U.S. trade deficit. Ever the supporter of open markets, Rubin advised lawmakers against enacting legislation that would restrict trade, according to sources familiar with the presentation. But when Pelosi gave the freshmen the first opportunity to ask questions, they bombarded Rubin with inquiries about the impact of trade agreements on manufacturing job losses.  FULL ARTICLE

Mich. toolmakers fight trade group over China
Manufacturers criticize national association's refusal to fight China's currency practices.
Louis Aguilar, The Detroit News, January 3, 2007
Michigan tool and die businesses are attempting to stage a rebellion against former Gov. John Engler and the country's largest industrial trade group, the National Association of Manufacturers.

The 74-year-old Michigan Tooling Association has changed its name to the Tooling, Manufacturing & Technologies Association, and intends to become a national group that urges U.S. Congress to halt China's currency manipulation.

That manipulation is among the factors ravaging tool and die businesses -- one in three automotive tooling shops in Michigan has gone under in the past decade. The toolmakers charge the Chinese are allowed to vastly undercut their prices, forcing many American shops to go out of business.  FULL ARTICLE

Tooling association changes name as it prepares to go national
By Sheena Harrison,Crain's Business Detroit, January 3, 2007 
The Michigan Tooling Association has changed its name to The Tooling, Manufacturing & Technologies Association in hopes of drawing membership outside the state and pushing for trade policies that benefit domestic companies.

The Farmington Hills-based association voted to change its name on Dec. 21 and announced the change this week. President and CEO Rob Dumont said the association is going national because it wants to gain numbers and push for trade policies that will help domestic manufacturers compete against foreign companies, such as pressuring China to stop pegging its currency, known as the yuan, against the U.S. dollar.  FULL ARTICLE

Trade Agreements and Populist Protectionism  
By: Peter Morici
Americans offer to the world a simple idea: the progress of mankind is best served by empowering individuals and competition. Universal suffrage and free elections, private enterprise and free markets, best promote peaceful cooperation among nations, personal liberty and dignity, and material progress for all.

U.S. international economic policy is plainly revealed by advocacy for the World Trade Organization and the various trade agreements that deepen cooperation with developing countries, like Mexico and Chile, and nations in transition from socialism, like China and Russia.

The premise undergirding free trade is simple. Let each nation and individual specialize in what they do best and everyone prospers better. More imports raise living standards by providing cheaper goods, and more exports raise productivity and create higher paying jobs.

Increasingly, free trade is under attack by what former Bush Administration Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and his colleagues call populist protectionism.  FULL ARTICLE

U.S. Records $58.2 Billion Trade Deficit in November
By: Peter Morici
Today, the Commerce Department reported the November deficit on trade in goods and services was $58.2 billion. This was down from the $58.8 billion in October but remains about 5.3 percent of GDP.

The improvement was largely attributable to slower holiday sales, which tapped down imports from China a bit.  The trade gap with China should rise again in the months ahead.
 
Since December 2001, the U.S. monthly trade deficit has increased $31.6 billion. This has saddled the economy with a huge foreign debt and slowed growth. Dysfunctional energy policies, the overvalued dollar and the competitive difficulties of domestic automakers are largely responsible for these problems.

To finance trade deficits Americans have borrowed $6 trillion, over and above foreign direct investment in the United States, and the debt service comes to about $300 billion a year.  FULL ARTICLE

The Half Century Ending in 2006; the Next Half Century Beginning in 2007
By Jack Lifton, 27 Dec 2006
DETROIT (ResourceInvestor.com) -- A half century ago “Engine” Charley Wilson, then the CEO of General Motors, said to a U.S. Senator during his confirmation hearings to become President Eisenhower’s Secretary of Defense that “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.” Just a few years later, Nikita Khrushchev, the successor after a bitter internal struggle to Joseph Stalin as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics said to Eisenhower’s Vice President, Richard M. Nixon, “We will bury you.”

Mr. Wilson was right. The American OEM automotive industry was selling into a market that grew, on average, larger every year. Its products were made with American invented and perfected technology on assembly lines for mass production developed in America using American raw materials, mainly steel, iron, glass, and rubber products made from metals and minerals mined or produced nearly 100% within the continental U.S.

Mr. Khrushchev, who, we can see now (as then), was speaking metaphorically about economics, was wrong.  FULL ARTICLE

Robert J. Dumont: Industry Needs Action on Currency Manipulation
From: The Enterprise Forum, November 13, 2006
Can free trade really be fair trade if countries can get away with manipulating currency exchange rates? Robert J. Dumont, managing director of the Michigan Tooling Association in Farmington Hills doesn't think so. And he is not alone. Policy makers are giving the issue an increasing amount of attention. FULL ARTICLE

NAM Board Votes In Favor Of Multinationals In Debate Over China's Currency; Domestic Manufacturers Are Left Wondering What To Do
By Richard McCormack,  Manufacturing & Technology News, October 12, 2006
For members of the National Association of Manufacturers' Domestic Manufacturers Group, September 28 will be a day to remember. Their two-year effort to persuade NAM to endorse a currency manipulation bill was rejected by the association's executive committee and board of directors. Members of the Domestic Manufacturers Group (DMG) claim the loss was the result of opposition from the large multinational corporations that benefit from China's pegged currency working in concert with NAM's senior leaders intent on quashing an uprising. NAM leaders counter that the legislation was not going to force a sovereign nation of 1.3 billion to change its policies any time in the near future. FULL ARTICLE

A Trade War Right At Home: A deepening rift over China pits big U.S. companies against small ones
By Lorraine Woellert, Business Week, August 14 2006
For decades, Washington's business lobby has led the charge for trade liberalization, with companies standing shoulder to shoulder in support of tariff-busting and free-market pacts.  FULL ARTICLE

Tool or die: Industry searches for answers
By Eric Morath, Oakland Business Review, August 3, 2006 
Robert DuMont didn't flinch when asked whether the domestic automotive tooling industry would be around 10 years from now. "The membership of our association is struggling," said DuMont...  FULL ARTICLE

China's restrained currency dogs Bush
By Justin Hyde, Detroit Free Press, July 27, 2006
When President George W. Bush speaks to the National Association of Manufacturers today about the state of the U.S. economy, most of the crowd will wait anxiously for any comments about China and its currency, a debate that threatens to fracture the nation's largest industrial trade group.  FULL ARTICLE

From the Hearing on China's Impact on the US Auto and Auto Parts Industries
2006-07-17 (Dearborn, MI) Testimony of Laurie Schmald Moncrieff President of Schmald Tool & Die, Inc.
Good afternoon. I am Laurie Moncrieff, third-generation owner of Schmald Tool & Die, Inc., located in Burton, Michigan...In the face of intense global competition and rising costs, I am very concerned about the state of manufacturing in this country and particularly for the tool and die industry. Every product that is manufactured is formed by a tool, die, or mold made by our industry. Manufacturing companies like mine contribute more to the economy than just employment and spending. The self-sufficiency of the U.S. manufacturing sector rests squarely on the shoulders of a strong domestic tooling industry. FULL ARTICLE
2006-07-17 (Dearborn, MI) Opening Statement of George Becker
The Commission is pleased to be meeting today here in Dearborn, an excellent venue for a hearing on China's Impact on the U.S. Auto and Auto Parts Industries. Michigan is the heart of auto and auto parts production here in the U.S. Today's is the first field hearing the Commission has held this calendar year and is intended to respond to our Congressional mandate to assess how the U.S.-China trade and investment relationship is affecting vital regions and sectors of our economy.  FULL ARTICLE

Tough China Trade Bill Unmasks Dem Hypocrisy
By Douglas Turner, Washington, July 17, 2006
Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, who is running for the Senate in Maryland, may be typical of the way some Democrats exploit the issue of foreign trade and jobs. Last week he lamented that the nation's trade deficit - the measure of how much we import as against what we sell overseas - rose to $68 billion for the month of May. FULL ARTICLE

Manufacturers Support Bill On China Currency Practices
By Martin Vaughan, CongressDailyPM, July 7, 2006
After a bruising debate among its members, a key policymaking body for the National Association of Manufacturers voted last week to back legislation from House Armed Services Chairman Hunter and Rep. Timothy Ryan, D-Ohio, that would make currency manipulation an export subsidy subject to U.S. trade remedies. FULL ARTICLE

Manufacturers Vote to Back Measure to Toughen China Trade Rules
By Mark Drajem, New York, June 27,2006
The largest U.S. manufacturers' association brushed aside the objections of multinational companies such as Caterpillar Inc. to back a proposal that would allow new duties on Chinese imports to compensate for that nation's currency policy. FULL ARTICLE