Brown Comments on Trade Deficit

BROWN COMMENTS ON TRADE DEFICIT

Washington, DC -Congressman Sherrod Brown (OH-13) responded to the Commerce Department's release of figures showing a trade deficit of $46 billion for May.

These numbers are especially grim considering the 2003 trade deficit reached a record $489.4 billion, 17 percent higher than the $418 billion trade deficit recorded in 2002. The goods deficit with China alone increased from $12 billion in April to $12.1 billion in May.

Brown said the trade deficit figures posed greater challenges for President Bush, who continues to target Ohio, a state that has lost more than 170,000 manufacturing jobs - 195 jobs per day since the president took office.

"The president's trade policies and these never-ending trade deficits add to American workers' anxiety. The trade gap and the administration's inability to hold China accountable for unfair trade practices paint a dismal picture for American manufacturing," Brown said. "Rather than helping our struggling manufacturing base, the administration continues to foist on American workers trade policies that bleed US jobs and tax policies that reward corporate expatriates."