ABC 12 – WJRT – Flint, MISenator Debbie Stabenow unveils major trade plan

Senator Debbie Stabenow unveils major trade plan

(10/10/11) - The American Competitiveness Plan is aimed at cracking down on countries involved in trade violations. The plan could also bring more jobs to Michigan.
 
The first part of Senator Debbie Stabenow's bipartisan plan overcame a a major hurdle last week in the Senate.
   
She says the legislation is designed to go after countries like China that are not playing fair when it comes to trade.
  
She told the crowd at the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce that Michigan faces disadvantages and an uneven playing field when competing to sell their products world wide.

"This issue of currency manipulation where China can peg the value of their money in a way that they always get an artificial discount by always valuing their money less than everybody else's in the world. That's a form of cheating. That allows them to get up to a 40 percent
discount in price," Stabenow said.

The first part of Stabenow's cosponsored bill would crack down on this kind of currency manipulation.
    
The bill would also create a trade prosecutor to hold countries that break the rules accountable.

Lastly, the bill would stop the theft of American ideas and technologies.

Michigan leads the nation in patens for clean energy products, but some Chinese and other foreign manufacturers are trespassing on those developments.