Wyden, Schumer, Brown Call on Secretary Mnuchin to Press Chinese Trade Negotiators on Enforcement to Combat Predatory Trade Practices

Senate Dems To Secretary Mnuchin: Any Trade Agreement That Does Not Require China To Make The Permanent Structural Reforms Necessary Will Be An Abject Failure

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Banking Committee Ranking Member Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, sent a letter today urging Secretary Mnuchin to stay aggressive in his approach in ongoing negations with China. 

“We urge you to support a tough approach that demands meaningful, enforceable, verifiable and enduring concessions that address the underlying challenges identified by the section 301 investigation led by the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR),” the senators wrote. “American jobs, American innovation and long-term American economic influence and prosperity are at stake.”

The letter follows recent reports that Secretary Mnuchin may be encouraging President Trump to back down in order to conclude trade negotiations with China next month. The letter sheds light on how China’s predatory trade practices, which include forced technology transfers, espionage resulting in the theft and extortion of U.S. intellectual property, flooding the American market with cheap dumped goods, and preventing U.S. companies from competing freely in their market, not only threaten American jobs, but pose a significant threat to American innovation and long-term American economic influence and prosperity. 

In their letter, Wyden, Schumer, and Brown note that should China fail to make the permanent structural reforms necessary to remedy these very significant issues, any trade agreement that merely addresses the trade balance with China will be an abject failure. 

The Democrats’ letter can be found here.

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