Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-3) is leading a bipartisan group of more than 50 members of Congress in urging the Obama Administration to stop China from being granted market economy status (MES), which would be a disaster for American workers. When China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, a provision was put in place labeling China as a non-market economy, which allows the United States to implement significant anti-dumping duties to protect American companies from unfair Chinese trading practices. China has stated that it believes this provision expires at the end of this year.

“We understand that some argue that [Article 15 of China’s Protocol of Accession to the WTO] obligates granting China market economy status for the purposes of calculating anti-dumping duties. However, there are strong arguments that this provision creates no such obligation,” stated Rep. Lipinski and his colleagues in a letter to United States Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. “The anti-dumping law is a vital tool to ensure that unfairly priced Chinese imports do not injure U.S. companies and workers. This unfair trade is often due to Chinese production overcapacity, particularly in the steel and aluminum industries, and has had harmful effects on U.S. producers. Any consideration of the implications of the December 11, 2016, deadline must be consistent with U.S. law and should reflect the importance of effectively addressing unfairly priced Chinese imports.”…