Brown, Portman Urge Secretary Ross to Investigate Currency Manipulation as Unfair Subsidy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) today urged Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to investigate allegations of currency manipulation from U.S. petitioners as an unfair subsidy. In a letter to Ross, the Senators asked Ross to institute a stronger policy than the last Administration to go after allegations of currency manipulation. 

“We were disappointed that the last Administration elected to ignore allegations of currency manipulation in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, and we urge you to quickly adopt a different policy,” said Brown and Portman in the letter. “If the Department of Commerce will not treat currency manipulation as the unfair subsidy that it is in trade remedy cases, U.S. companies and workers will continue to be without meaningful relief from purposefully undervalued exchange rates.”

Full text of the letter is below and here.

March 30, 2017

The Honorable Wilbur Ross

Secretary

U.S. Department of Commerce

1401 Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20230

Dear Secretary Ross:

Congratulations on your recent confirmation as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce.  We know you have been in your position for only a short time, but we write to ask you to take immediate action to address currency manipulation.   Specifically, we urge you to institute a policy of investigating allegations of currency manipulation when the Department receives such an allegation from U.S. petitioners in trade remedy cases. 

Despite the history of intervention in exchange markets to influence currency values, the U.S. has not labeled any of our trading partners a currency manipulator since 1994.  U.S. industry and its workers have paid the price, particularly when goods subsidized by an undervalued currency have been sold in the U.S. market.  We were disappointed that the last Administration elected to ignore allegations of currency manipulation in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, and we urge you to quickly adopt a different policy.  If the Department of Commerce will not treat currency manipulation as the unfair subsidy that it is in trade remedy cases, U.S. companies and workers will continue to be without meaningful relief from purposefully undervalued exchange rates. 

We were pleased by President Trump’s campaign promises to crack down on currency manipulators, and we applaud your commitment to strengthening U.S. trade enforcement.  We urge you to take the immediate step of investigating currency manipulation in trade remedy cases and help U.S. manufacturers and workers compete on the level playing field they deserve.  

Sincerely,

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