Look beyond NAFTA

Look beyond NAFTA

Much of the debate in the Democratic primary race in Ohio centered on the loss of jobs, as might well be expected in a state that has suffered more than most during the recent era of globalization. But jobs loss is a subject that should transcend presidential primary races. It is a subject that should have gotten more attention from the Bush administration throughout its tenure.

Proof of that came at the end of the week, with the announcement by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that the U.S. economy lost 63,000 jobs last month, with about 52,000 of those being manufacturing jobs that pay middle-class wages.

According to the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, which opposes free trade, the United States has lost almost 3.5 million manufacturing jobs since 2001. It is more than coincidental that Census Bureau figures show that median household earned income dropped from $49,224 in 1999 to $48,201 in 2006.

But during their Ohio campaigns Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama focused almost exclusively on the jobs fallout attributed to the North American Free Trade Agreement. While we agree that NAFTA has not been the boon to business in Ohio that it was supposed to be, NAFTA’s shortcomings are only part of the problem.

Consider the pipe story

We continue to see the assault on the U.S. pipe industry as a story that should be getting more attention from those who are concerned about the loss of American manufacturing jobs.

Pipe producers and the United Steelworkers Union filed complaints for years alleging unfair trade by China against the pipe industry.

Two well-founded complaints were rebuffed by the administration, despite startling numbers: In 2002, China exported 9,000 tons of standard pipe to the United States. That jumped to 266,000 tons in 2004, and to more than 400,000 tons in 2006. That’s 800 million pounds of pipe — nearly three pounds for every man, woman and child in the United States — being imported at prices that were sometimes lower than the cost of materials for a manufacturer in the United States.

At last, the Commerce Department is poised to impose anti-dumping duties on imported Chinese pipe. Those duties will be finalized this spring, about a year after the latest complaint was filed. It may come in time to save some U.S. pipe companies and the jobs of their workers. For thousands nationwide and hundreds right here in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys, it comes too late.

Jobs being lost today and those lost for more than a decade weren’t all lost to NAFTA.