The latest monthly U.S. trade figures were released this morning by the Department of Commerce:

• In June 2012, the U.S. racked up an international goods and services trade deficit of $42.9 billion.
• The monthly goods deficit with China rose to $27.4 billion, up from $26.0 billion in May.  This is the fourth straight month of a rising trade deficit with China.

Said Scott Paul, Executive Director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM):

"The good news is that our overall trade deficit fell in June–that helps our economic growth. The bad news is that our trade deficit with China continues to climb.  Slower growth in China has hurt our exports, but so has the fact that China's currency has lost value this year. It's clear we need a bolder strategy with China on its currency and subsidies, which are significant threats to the jobs recovery we have seen in manufacturing."

There are several actions Congress and the Administration could take right now to create jobs in America and lower the trade deficit:

1. House Speaker John Boehner should permit a vote on bipartisan legislation that would deter China from manipulating its currency. This bill would pass overwhelmingly, as it did in the Senate last year.
2. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should designate China as a currency manipulator. While the value of China’s currency has risen somewhat against the dollar over the past year, it has stalled this year.  The yuan still has a long way to go to reach equilibrium, and has only kept pace with the rate of change of the dollar’s decline against other major currencies.
3. The Obama Administration should launch a series of self-initiated trade cases against surges of Chinese imports in key sectors such as auto parts.
4. The President’s export initiative should evolve from an exercise in doubling exports to a strategy that dramatically lowers our trade deficit, particularly in high-value and strategic sectors of the economy.
5. The President and Congress should work together to pass a “Made in America” agenda that promotes reshoring, investing in our infrastructure, training a skilled workforce, leveraging federal procurement to support U.S. industry, and targeting tax breaks to domestic production.