Ohio lost 112,500 jobs in 2015 due to trade deficits, currency manipulation cited as major cause. AFL-CIO pres. Richard Trumka: Currency manipulation cost 2 million American jobs in 2015, many in manufacturing. Omitting currency rules from international trade deal TPP was a mistake-Cleveland Plain Dealer

""Omitting currency rules from the TPP benefits Wall Street, making the TPP a tool for off-shoring jobs, not for job creation," he wrote. "If Congress is waiting for more evidence that TPP is a bad deal, this is it.""...

3/3/16, "Ohio lost 112,500 jobs due to trade with TPP countries (graphic): EPI," Cleveland Plain Dealer, Olivera Perkins, Cleveland, Ohio

"Ohio lost 112,500 jobs in 2015 resulting from the United States' trade deficit with countries that are part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.

That places Ohio sixth, in terms of the percentage of jobs lost to trade with TPP countries, among the 50 states and the District of Columbia ranked in the report released Thursday by the liberal Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The lost jobs represent nearly 2.2 percent of employment in Ohio, according to the analysis....

The TPP is a free trade agreement between the United States and 11 partnership countries, including Canada, Mexico, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. While the countries have reached final agreement on the trade accord, it probably will not go into effect for several months. The agreement must clear several hurdles, including final ratification by Congress....

"Currency manipulation is one of the key driving forces behind the high and rapidly rising U.S. trade deficit with the 11 other members of the TPP," states the report, co-authored by Elizabeth Glass, an EPI trade and manufacturing policy research assistant.

"In 2015, the U.S. deficit with TPP countries translated into 2 million U.S. jobs lost, more than half (1.1 million) of which were in manufacturing."

The report says that the TPP should include "a set of restrictions and/or enforceable penalties against member countries that engage in currency manipulation."

"Without such provisions against currency manipulation, the TPP could well follow other trade agreements and leave even greater U.S. trade deficits in its wake," the report states.

Such concerns about currency manipulation are unfounded, according the USTR website.

"We have worked with macroeconomic authorities of TPP countries to secure a joint declaration that recognize our mutual interest in addressing unfair currency practices," it states.

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said that is not enough.

"EPI's new report quantifies what a mistake it was to leave currency rules out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership," he wrote in a news release. "The trade deficit with TPP countries-attributable in large part to misaligned currency-cost America's working families 2 million jobs in 2015, more than half in manufacturing."
 
"Omitting currency rules from the TPP benefits Wall Street, making the TPP a tool for off-shoring jobs, not for job creation," he wrote. "If Congress is waiting for more evidence that TPP is a bad deal, this is it.""...

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From Economic Policy Institute report:


3/3/16, "Trans-Pacific Partnership, currency manipulation, trade, and jobs"

"U.S. trade deficit with the TPP countries cost 2 million jobs in 2015, with job losses in every state," Economic Policy Institute, by Robert E. Scott and Elizabeth Glass

"The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries lacks an absolutely key component to keep it from doing potential damage to the U.S. economy. The missing piece of this trade and investment deal is a set of restrictions and/or enforceable penalties against member countries that engage in currency manipulation. Currency manipulation is one of the key driving forces behind the high and rapidly rising U.S. trade deficit with the 11 other members of the TPP. In 2015, the U.S. deficit with TPP countries translated into 2 million U.S. jobs lost, more than half (1.1 million) of which were in manufacturing. Without such provisions against currency manipulation, the TPP could well follow other trade agreements and leave even greater U.S. trade deficits in its wake.

Currency manipulation occurs when a country artificially depresses the value of its currency. Currency manipulation acts like a subsidy to the exports of the manipulating country, and a tax on U.S. exports to every country where U.S. exports compete with the currency manipulator’s exports. In this way, currency manipulation increases U.S. imports, suppresses U.S. exports, and inflates U.S. trade deficits. As past EPI research has shown, currency-manipulation-fueled trade deficits have reduced U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), eliminated millions of U.S. jobs, driven down U.S. wages, and propelled the outsourcing of U.S. jobs to currency manipulators.

Many members of the proposed TPP, including Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan, are known currency manipulators. Others, namely Vietnam, appear to be following the lead of currency manipulators by, for example, acquiring excess foreign exchange reserves to depress the value of their currency. Currency manipulation explains a substantial share of the large, persistent U.S. trade deficit with the 11 other TPP countries that has not only cost millions of U.S. jobs but also increased income inequality and put downward pressure on American wages. We can’t afford a trade agreement that not only allows but would intensify these harmful trends:"...






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