In a decade, China’s share of auto-parts market explodes

It took far too long for U.S. poli- cy makers to recognize the damage that China’s unfair currency and trade policies were doing to two industries vital to Ohio: steel and rubber.

And even when there was recognition of the danger, the responses were inadequate to save the jobs of tens of thousands of Americans.

Now there is a new area of concern, an area once again of special interest to Ohio and the Mahoning Valley: auto parts.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio was among four rust belt senators and others who released three reports Tuesday that showed the historic and present effect of China’s trade policies and U.S. inaction on the issue.

Among the startling numbers: Since the U.S. established permanent normal trade relations with China and China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, the U.S. deficit with China on auto parts trade has increased nearly tenfold, from $1.03 billion in 2001 to $9.95 billion in 2011.

Billions of dollars in imported goods every year translate to tens of thousands of jobs lost at home.

In the best of times those kinds of losses hurt. At a time such as this, when the economy is struggling to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression, every lost job counts. Hundreds of thousands of lost jobs is the difference between recovery and malaise.

Some ‘partner’

China has shown itself to be a predatory trading “partner.” It first targets segments of industries and then relentlessly broadens its grasp on the market.

It will begin at the low end of a segment, producing relatively inexpensive fence pipe, for instance If allowed to dominate that market, will move on to more expensive product lines. From flooding the U.S. market with common pipe to moving up to oil-country pipe, such as that being produced by V&M Star in Youngstown, is seen as a natural progression for China’s planners. Cheap replacement tires today; factory equipment tires tomorrow.

And if, as was the case with China’s saturation of the common-pipe and tire markets, the U.S. eventually responds, China cries foul.

“The auto industry is helping turn our economy around by reviving manufacturing facilities across the nation.” Brown noted. No state knows that better than Ohio and no area knows it better than the Mahoning Valley.

Meteoric rises in export segments are not a mistake or a coincidence. They are the product of China’s trade strategy, which it bolsters with specific subsidies and with its continued effort to artificially deflate the value of its currency. Washington would be foolish to pretend otherwise.

Brown noted that President Barack Obama announced a new trade enforcement panel in his State of the Union address.

Enforcing trade policy assures that countries are trading partners. Too often, the United States is the trading patsy, and our unemployed workers are the ones who pay the price for Washington’s neglect.