Issue Position: Trade Policy and Revitalizing Manufacturing

Issue Position

American workers, and our manufacturing sector, are being punished by our trade policy.
I support Fair Trade as opposed to Free Trade because American workers should compete on the same playing field, not undercut by countries who engage in child labor and pollution.
I support strengthening nation's trade laws including anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws to protect American manufacturing.
I support legislation to block the importation of goods that were produced in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including goods produced by children or exploited workers.
I will work to prevent currency manipulation, particularly that of China, that acts as a subsidy for foreign goods and has contributed to our trade deficit. I support a coordinated international effort or unilateral action if needed to protect American manufacturing jobs.

Our trade policy is unfair to American workers. This is hurting our manufacturing sector and contributing to our $2 Billion trade deficit. Global trade and commerce is essential, but the rules by which this takes place are flawed. NAFTA, CAFTA, and other Free Trade agreements have failed to take into account the fact that many countries, including China, do not follow the same environmental and labor standards we do.

In essence, the problem comes from the fact that we are not all playing by the same rules. It is obviously cheaper to manufacture goods in nations with child or exploited labor and that have no environmental regulations. This manufacturing is not more efficient than that of American workers, it is just substandard.

I will work to reform our trade policy to be fairer to American workers. I will stand strong to end practices, including currency manipulation, that are hurting Americans who are employed in manufacturing.

Finally, this district has lost major plants including the Chrysler plan in Kenosha and the GM plant in Janesville. I feel Paul Ryan has taken a backseat while this district, and American manufacturing is being punished. Instead of supporting the positions I have mentioned above, Ryan has actively promoted an opposite agenda that fails to listen to the voice of American workers.

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