Washington, D.C. – A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Wednesday introduced the Leveling the Playing Field Act 2.0, which aims to modernize the trade remedy tools America needs to push back against the predatory economic practices of China and other nations. The bill was introduced by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) in the Senate and Reps. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), Frank Mrvan (D-Ind.) and Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) in the House.
Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul said:
“The Chinese Communist Party has flooded the global market with dumped and subsidized steel and other products for decades. This trade cheating has had very real consequences for communities around America, eliminating millions of family-supporting jobs. In addition to the economic havoc wreaked by China’s cheating, these practices have also threatened to compromise our national security.
“Steel is an essential component of much of America’s infrastructure and defense supply chain. Without a stable domestic steel sector, America endangers its ability to quickly respond to the needs of war and grants our foreign adversaries access to our most sensitive systems, including infrastructure.
“Predatory industrial policies and unfair trade practices of other countries — ranging from China to even U.S. allies — are an everyday reality for U.S. manufacturers and their workers and present a broader existential danger to our free and rules-based market economy. Action is urgently needed to enhance the process for U.S. companies and American workers seeking to combat unfair trade practices such as dumping, subsidies and circumvention.
“The Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have helped to spark an American manufacturing renaissance, but investment in domestic manufacturing is a first step. Modernizing our trade tools would give our hardworking men and women a fair shot at competition. Industrial policy cannot succeed without effective trade enforcement.
“Congress must pass the Leveling the Playing Field Act 2.0 if it truly aims to re-establish the United States as a manufacturing superpower and reduce the country’s dependence on China. We thank Senators Brown and Young, along with Representatives Sewell, Johnson, Mrvan and Van Duyne, for leading this important effort.”
Bad trade actors, like China, are constantly finding new ways to evade U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD), including “country hopping,” Belt and Road subsidies, and routing illegally dumped and subsidized imports through other countries before entering the U.S. market. The Leveling the Playing Field Act 2.0 would strengthen trade remedy laws to address these new challenges and combat repeat offenders, allowing for expedited, successive AD/CVD investigations.
While roughly half of all AD/CVD trade cases brought before the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission are in the steel industry, many other industries are affected. U.S. producers of furniture, solar panels, paper, seafood, tires, and other sectors will benefit from stronger tools to stop unfair trade by China and other countries. America lost 3.7 million jobs between 2001 and 2018 due to the lopsided trade deficit with China, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Three-fourths of those lost American jobs were in manufacturing.
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