Forum Post: US-China Trade Deficit—Culprit in US Unemployment

OCTOBER 04, 2012 HEIDE B. MALHOTRA
America’s unemployment situation makes the news month after month with analysts offering many reasons, spins, and interpretations of the data.http://economyincrisis.org/content/us-china-trade-deficit-culprit-in-us-unemployment
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released a briefing paper in August, which pins a lot of the blame for U.S. unemployment on the U.S. trade deficit with the Chinese state.

When China was admitted as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, market pundits predicted a relationship that would benefit not just America, but the entire world.

Instead, “the extraordinary growth of trade between China and the United States has had a dramatic effect on U.S. workers and the domestic economy, though in neither case has this effect been beneficial,” the EPI brief states.

EPI’s research into the subject matter was quite extensive. The economic policy think tank looked at the issue from many angles and came to the conclusion that currency manipulation, laws and regulations that violate WTO agreements, and trade distorting policies are the major causes affecting the U.S.-China trade imbalance and with it the U.S. employment situation.

“Growing U.S. trade deficit with China cost more than 2.7 million jobs between 2001 and 2011, with job losses in every state,” the EPI brief states. http://economyincrisis.org/content/us-china-trade-deficit-culprit-in-us-unemployment