Norwood Moves to Fight Red Chinese Raid on Georgia Jobs
Norwood Moves to Fight Red Chinese Raid on Georgia Jobs
(Washington, DC) - Congress should enact an immediate 27.5% trade tariff against all Red Chinese goods, in response to the communist nation's continued violation of trade agreements with the United States resulting in the loss of 1200 jobs in Northeast Georgia in a single week, according to U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-GA).
Norwood also pledged full congressional support for approving the maximum possible allocation of federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) funds for hard-hit Rabun and Hart counties. Rabun County lost 900 workers with the announced closing of the Fruit of the Loom plant there; Hart County's Springs Industries is laying of all 340 of its Hartwell workers as well. Both companies cite low-cost competition from China as the cause of the job loss.
"This is why I voted against every bill to expand trade with Communist China since I've been in Congress," Norwood says. "This is precisely where we warned it would lead - unfair trade, broken agreements, and lost jobs. We now have the highest trade deficit and foreign debt in history, and we can thank the Red Chinese for a huge part of it."
Norwood says he had hesitated to join the effort to impose tariffs on grounds that it could be considered a form of tax increase, but the theft of 1200 jobs in his congressional district in a single week provided the proof such a move is now past due. The former dentist says he will begin work with U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and Jim Bunning (R-KY), who are pushing Senate legislation enacting new tariffs on Communist China for fraudulently manipulating currency rates to drive American manufacturers out of business.
"We no longer need to fear a trade war, because we're already in one," Norwood says. "Red China's pounding away on us while we just sit there and take it. It's time we started punching back, and since a 27.5% tariff is apparently legal under our current agreements, it's the least we should do. But I'm still very interested in finding a way to do it without it being a tax increase. Next we need to repeal Permanent Normal Trade Relations with mainland China, although I don't think we have the votes for that - yet."
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ga09_norwood/NGaChinaJobLoss.html