Broad National Coalition Is Created To Change U.S. Trade Laws

Manufacturing & Technology News

October 31, 2008

A large number of trade associations, manufacturing companies, labor groups, farmers, banks, academics and former government officials have coalesced around a new "Coalition to Fix America's Economy." At least 35 organizations, 75 companies and numerous individuals who have been on the losing end of the free trade debate over the past 30 years have signed a one-page declaration asking the newly elected president and members of Congress to focus on generating wealth and jobs in the United States, instead of shipping them offshore. The U.S. government can do this by adopting policies that favor investment in American manufacturing and agriculture, and by reducing the U.S. trade deficit through trade policies that require "full reciprocity, fairness and transparency," says the coalition. The current trade policy amounts to a "tragic mistake."

The group is "unprecedentedly broad and deep, cutting across economic sectors and geographic regions," says organizer Charles Blum, president of the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) and a former assistant U.S. Trade Representative.

The new coalition argues that the trade deficit "is a major cause of today's financial crisis," and that it is undermining American jobs and wages. "Because U.S. policies have betrayed too many American workers and families by offshoring their jobs and destroying their communities, we are also endangering the retirement security and health care of this generation of workers and squandering our children's future," says the coalition in its declaration. "Without immediate fundamental change, America's standard of living is at risk."

The coalition unveiled itself to the nation at a Capitol Hill press conference televised by C-Span. Members of the group told the U.S. government to combat mercantilist practices such as currency manipulation. They called for the "aggressive enforcement" of U.S. trade laws to stop dumping, subsidization and intellectual property theft. They said it is long past time to eliminate tax advantages that "undermine the competitiveness of U.S. producers at home and abroad and discourage investment in America."

The current financial meltdown might "prove a dangerous distraction from far more important long-term problems," said George Shuster, CEO of Cranston Print Works, the oldest textile company in the America, at the press event. The federal government "has decided" to kill U.S. manufacturing by pursuing a "ruinous" trade policy, said Shuster. U.S. tariffs average 1.3 percent "our exports face an average at least 20 times higher," he said. "Also, 149 foreign countries use border tax schemes to subsidize their exports and punish ours, and we do not, for a total disadvantage of some $428 billion a year, nearly three times the annual cost of the Iraq war."

The Coalition for a Prosperous America and the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition were instrumental in creating the new group. Immediately below are the 46 founding national, state and local organizations followed by 100 individual companies. The list of about 30 individuals involved is located at www.fixingamericas economy.org.

AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council

American Corn Growers Association

American Foundry Society

American Iron and Steel Institute

American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition

American Mold Builders Association

Coalition for a Prosperous America

Coalition for a Prosperous America, Colo. Chapter

Cold Finishing Steel Bar Institute

Colorado Springs Manufacturing Task Force

Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports

Congregational Action to Lift Lives, Erie, Penn.

Copper and Brass Fabricators Council

Hand Tools Institute

JobsFirst.org, Bluefields, W.V.

Kansas Farmers Union

Manufacturers Association of South Central Penn.

Mesa County Cattlemen's Association

Metals Service Center Institute

Mississippi Livestock Markets Assn.

National Association of Surface Finishing

National Council of Textile Organizations

National Farmers Union

National Textile Association

National Tooling and Machining Association

Nebraska Farmers Union

North American Die Casting Association

Northwest Penn. Coop. Council (Mercer County)

Ohio Farmers Union

Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise

Oregon Livestock Producers Assn.

Organization for Competitive Markets

Penn Action, Philadelphia, Penn.

Pennsylvania Coalition to End Homelessness

Pennsylvania Farmers Union

Prospective Homeowners Assn., Pasadena, Calif.

Ranchers and Cattlemen Action Legal Fund

Rocky Mountain Farmers Union

South Dakota Stockgrowers Assn.

Specialty Steel Industry of North America

Steel Manufacturers Association

Tooling & Manufacturing Association, Ill.

Tooling, Manufacturing and Technologies Assn.

United States Industrial Fabrics Institute

U.S. Business and Industry Council

Women Involved in Farm Economics

Producers And Service Providers

A.B. Heller, Inc., Miford, Mich.

A.B. Steel Mill Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio

Accum-matic Systems Inc., Livonia, Mich.

Acorn Stamping, Oxford, Mich.

Allegheny Technologies Inc., Pittsburgh, Penn.

Alton Steel, Alton, Ill.

Ameritech Die & Mold Inc., Mooresville, N.C.

Ameritech Die & Mold South, Inc., Ormond Beach, Fla.

Apex Broach, Warren, Mich.

Arcelor Mittal Steel, Chicago, Ill.

Arkansas Steel Associates, Newport, Ark.

Augunstein Gee Properties, Grand Ledge, Mich.

Avon Broach & Production Co., Rochester Hill, Mich.

Bayou Steel Corp., LaPlace, La.

Bedford Machine and Tool Inc, Bedford, Ind.

Bermar Associates, Troy Mich.

Beta Steel Corp., Portage, Ind.

Campbell Fittings Inc., Boyertown, Penn.

Cascade Steel Rolling Mills, McMinnville, Ore.

Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Corp., Charlotte, N.C.

Charter Manufacturing Co., Mequon, Wisc.

Chicago Heights Steel, Chicago Heights, Ill.

CMC Americas, Seguin, Texas

Corey Steel Co., Cicero

Cranbrook Partners & Co., Troy Mich.

Cranston Print Works Co., Cranston, R.I.

Cummins-Alison Corp., Mt. Prospect, Ill.

Detroit Edge Tool Co., Detroit, Mich.

Donsco Inc., Wrightsville, Penn.

E&E Manufacturing Co., Plymouth, Mich.

Elklind Tool Co., Franklin Park, Ill.

Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel, Pueblo, Colo.

Finishes Ltd., Colorado Springs, Colo.

Fisher Barton Inc., Watertown, Wisc.

Florida Famers Iinc., Lake Worth, Fla.

Future Products Tool Corp., Clawson, Mich.

Gallatin Steel, Ghent, Ky.

GenTek, Parsippany, N.J.

Gerdau Ameristeel, Tampa, Fla.

GH Cutter Services, Toledo, Ohio

Glenview State Bank, Glenview, Ill.

Haller International Technologies Inc., Detroit, Mich.

Hero Holdings, St. Clair Shores, Mich.

Highland Industries, Greensboro, N.C.

Hobson & Motzer, Durham, Conn.

Jepson Precision Tool, Cranesville, Penn.

Joint Production Technology, Macomb, Mich.

Judy Augenstein & Associates, Lansing, Mich.

Kason industries, Newnan, Ga.

KB Alloys, Reading, Penn.

HCH Services, Forest City, N.C.

Keystone Steel & Wire, Peoria, Ill.

Lapham-Hickey Steel Co., Chicago, Ill.

Larovan Tnterprises, Mooresville, N.C.

Latrobe Specialty Steel, Latrobe, Penn.

LeTourneau Technologies, Longview, Texas

Leonard Machine Tool Systems, Warren, Mich.

McDonald Steel Corp., McDonald, Ohio

McNichols Co., Tampa, Fla.

MDM inc.

Colorado Springs, Colo.

Metal Technologies of Murfreesboro, Inc., Murfreesboro, N.C.

Michigan Carbide Co., Sterling Heights, Mich.

Mol-son, LLC, Mattawan, Mich.

North Resource, Georgetown, Texas

Nucor Corp., Charlotte, N.C.

Penn United Technologies, Butler, Penn.

Patrogen Inc., Colorado Springs, Colo.

Quality Bar Corpo., Struthers, Ohio

Qualtek Manufacturing, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Ralph Wilson Agency, Southfield, Mich.

Ranch Foods Direct, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Republic Engineered Products, Rome, N.Y.

Romar Consulting, Granite Falls, N.C.

Saunders Thread Co., Gastonia, N.C.

Smith Castings, Kingsfo9rd, Mich.

Special Drill & Reamer Corp., Madison heights, Mich.

Spectrum Design Group, Byran, Ohio

SSAB, Lisle, Ill.

Steel Dynamics, Ft. Wayne, Ind.

Steel Tool & Engineering, Taylor, Mich.

TAMCO Steel, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

Tech Molded Plastics, Meadville, Penn.

Technical Tool Supply South, Windsor, Conn.

The Shop Around the Corner, Cornelius, N.C.

The Slane Co., Gahanna, Ohio

T&W Tool & Die Corp., Oak Park, Mich.

United States Steel Corp., Pittsburgh, Penn.

V&M Star, Youngstown, Ohio,

Valentine Robotics, Inc., Sterling Heights, Mich.

Viscount Industries, Farmington Hills, Mich.

West Michigan Septic Sewer & Drain Services, Muskogon Mich.

W. Silver Inc., El Paso, Texas

Xcel Mold & Machine, North Canton, Ohio

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