"Tubing coming over from China; finished product landing on the shores of the United States is the same exact costs as the American companies raw material costs," said Tim Ryan, Ohio 17th District Congressman.
He is trying to level the playing field for U.S. companies against Chinese imports. This week he sent a letter to leaders in Washington urging action against Chinese currency manipulation.
"It's artificially cheap. They do it by buying more, or buying less of their own currency," said Ryan. "It's pegged at a cheap rate which makes their exports a lot cheaper."
So he, along with Representative Mike Machaud of Maine, has sent a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. The letter urges the two to look into currency manipulation and label China as a manipulator. And if China would not agree to make changes, they would be subject to tariffs.
"It gives our President the tools that he needs to address the issue by putting tariffs on," said Ryan. "So the President and his team would evaluate whether or not there was currency manipulation going on; which there clearly is."
Ryan thinks that now is the time to make such a move because the U.S. is China's number one customer.
"They need us as much as we need them," said Ryan. "So I think this is an opportunity for us to address this issue in a comprehensive way, where they can benefit from it, because we're still their customers, and we can benefit from it because we level the playing field."
