WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. protectionist trade policies toward China and legislative efforts to punish Beijing for alleged currency manipulation would only hurt Americans' own interests, a U.S. newspaper reported Friday.
Citing analysis by the U.S.-China Business Council (UCBC) on how individual Congressional districts gain from trade with China, the Wall Street Journal said in an editorial the "results show a striking dissonance between the anti-China rhetoric and business on Main Street."
It noted that, while Democratic and Republican politicians did not agree on much in this polarizing election year, they were united in attacking China on trade as they were "eager to claim on the stump that the scheming Asian giant is hurting U.S. living standards."
But their charges against China ran counter to the reality, with the UCBC analysis showing booming U.S. exports to China in the past decade had benefited the constituencies of most U.S. Congressmen, the article said.
Republican Congressmen such as Frank Wolf of Virginia, John Shimkus of Illinois and Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania have signed onto the latest legislative effort to punish Beijing for alleged currency manipulation, but their districts' exports to China had increased by 536 percent, 686 percent and 640 percent respectively in the past decade, a much faster pace than U.S. exports to the rest of the world, the article said.
On the Democratic side, Jim McDermott of Washington, Nancy Pelosi of California and Louise Slaughter of New York had co-sponsored currency legislation against China despite their districts' booming exports to China.
【1】 【2】
