The National
Association of Manufacturing believes that the decline in manufacturing
may be ending; however, the United States has experienced a growing
trade deficit for the past 30 years. And since the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect in 1994, 3 million jobs
have been wiped out of the United States economy.
Some finishers
believe our trade policies are not helping the finishing industry
now, nor will they help in the future. One finisher laid off 50%
of his workforce last year, and his income was down 37%. The company
lost three large accounts to overseas manufacturing, where the
labor is cheap, the environmental regulations are there, but they
aren't enforced, and the import tax to the United States is virtually
nothing.
According
to Robert E. Scott an international economist with the Economic
Policy Institute in Washington, DC, "Existing trade agreements
should be repaired and rebuilt before moving ahead with another
round of broad new trade deals."
The government
needs to help United States manufacturing compete in the global
market. Some of Mr. Scott's facts include: Gross U.S. exports
rose 61.5% between 1994 and 2000, however, imports rose by 80.5%;
job losses associated with the trade deficit increased six times
more rapidly between 1994 and 2000; every state and DC suffered
significant job losses due to growing trade deficits; and the
manufacturing sector, where the trade deficit rose 158.5% between
1994 and 2000, had 65% of the surge in job losses during that
time.
In the job
shop finishing sector alone, job losses totaled 107,100. In all,
1.9 million jobs were lost in manufacturing.
If NAFTA had achieved balanced trade (as it was supposed to),
would 25 steel companies now be out of business? The International
Trade Commission has recommended that the federal government impose
20-40% tariffs on steel imports; however, President Bush has not
made a decision as of this writing.
Is the finishing
industry headed the way of the steel industry? I hope not. It
seems we not only have to challenge EPA about all the environmental
regulations, now we may need to fight the entire government for
our very survival. We better start now.
For the complete
copy of Mr. Scott's article, "Fast Track to Lost Jobs,"
go to http://epinet.org/briefingpapers/bp118.html.
