Today’s announcement that the U.S. trade gap with China jumped last year by 10.2 percent to $256.3 billion is another alarming reminder that the nation’s trade policies are broken and failing America’s working families.

The 2007 trade deficit with China, the biggest the United States has ever had with a single country, is clearly unsustainable. We have lost too many good-paying manufacturing jobs because China ignores the principles of fair trade.

USW Welcomes First Step, Calls for Further Action by Congress

For the first time ever, the Commerce Department today decided that countervailing duty law could be applied to non-market economies, possibly leading to new duties on imports of high-gloss paper from China.

Today’s decision reflects the fact that the Administration’s prior practice

Following visits today with Congressional leaders, United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo W. Gerard characterized the Democrat’s new policy on trade released Tuesday as “a good first step,” but cautioned that any policy must include strong enforcement procedures for holding the Bush administration’s feet to the fire, once agreements are negotiated.

Inflation Erodes Working Class Purchasing Power

According to figures released by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, real average weekly earnings for most U.S. workers fell 0.5 percent in January 2008.