Washington, DC – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, Ohio U.S. Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown, and several of their colleagues continued their bipartisan push to crack down on currency manipulation by foreign competitors. In a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, they urged the Administration to combat this practice that hurts exports, workers, and business through the ongoing trade negotiations.
“Colorado and our nation have a lot to gain from trade agreements if they are constructed to treat workers fairly,” Bennet said. “However, businesses and workers are right to be concerned when countries manipulate their currency, which makes exports from our state less attractive. If a country fails to adopt fair economic policies, we should be able to take appropriate action to punish them, block them from future free trade agreements, and restrict their access to our financing and market opportunities.”
In the letter the senators wrote, “As you know, last month Congress passed Trade Promotion Authority, which includes two principal negotiating objectives that explicitly call on the Administration to address currency manipulation through our ongoing trade negotiations. Therefore, as you continue negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, we urge you to prioritize combatting currency manipulation by our competitors.”
The Senators were joined on the letter by Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Richard Burr (R-N.C.), all members of the Senate Finance Committee.
In May, Bennet secured a bipartisan amendment to the package of trade bills in the Senate Finance Committee with Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Tom Carper (D-DE) to create additional measures the Unites States can take to enforce violations of currency manipulation, including barring a country from participating in future trade agreements.
The full text of the letter is below and can also be found here.
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