Krishnamoorthi, Gallagher, LaHood Discuss Impact of Unfair Industrial Policies by the CCP on American Manufacturing at Wisconsin Roundtable Event

STOUGHTON, WI – On Wednesday, Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI), and Congressman Darin LaHood (R-IL) of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the CCP hosted a roundtable discussion in Stoughton, Wisconsin to examine unfair CCP industrial policies and their impact on American manufacturing.

The lawmakers were joined at the roundtable by Robert Wahlin, President and CEO of Stoughton Trailers, and Steve Kramer, President of United Steelworkers Local 9777. Both witnesses spoke about the impact CCP policies have had on their industries, and outlined steps that could be taken to help grow American manufacturing in the face of such policies.

A transcript of Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi’s opening statement, as well as Mr. Kramer’s opening statement, can be found below.

Click here for a full recording of the discussion.

Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi Opening Statement:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And indeed as a Bears fan it does feel like a diplomatic mission coming up here to Packers country. But if there’s one thing that can make two NFL partisans put aside their differences about, it’s how do we stand up for American workers, how do we stand up for American companies like Stoughton Trailers, and how do we combat economic aggression by the Chinese Communist Party. I want to echo the Chairman’s sentiments. Bob, thank you so much for hosting us today, and thank you all for participating, and thank you for your leadership, Mr. Chairman, in putting this together.

One of the biggest challenges that we have is not the Lions or the Vikings - it’s the Chinese Communist Party.

Think about it this way: a little more than 20 years ago, the U.S. normalized trade relations with the PRC. It’s almost like bringing an expansion team into the NFL.

Now when you bring a new team into the league, there’s an expectation that the team will play by the same rules. They’ll have eleven players on the field, line up behind the line of scrimmage, and follow the orders of the referee.

But the problem is, the CCP never intended to follow the rules, and they’ve created an environment in which they regularly have an unfair advantage over their competitors.

Why do we know this? Because they told us they would do this.

Just two years ago, Long Yongtu, the Chief Negotiator for the PRC's accession to the WTO, said in an interview that, “when we promised to adopt a market economy, we made it absolutely clear that it would be a socialist market economy.”

What does that mean?

A socialist market economy means it’s a place where the CCP and the Chinese government regularly interfere in the economy to favor Chinese companies and Chinese products.

It means they steal intellectual property, it means they manipulate their currency, it means they dump their goods below the cost of making them. And unfortunately it means we have to stand up to them.

We don’t let teams on the field with fifteen players. We don’t let them have six downs instead of four. And we don’t let them decide which penalties they can and won’t follow.

Since we’ve let the CCP onto the playing field, our teams have felt the impact. According to a report from 2020 by the Economic Policy Institute, my district, the Eighth Congressional District in Illinois has had more than 15,000 jobs displaced because of unfair practices by the CCP. That is the most in any congressional district in the state of Illinois. And that’s another reason why I’m proud to be here today, standing up to the CCP.

Each of those people have a rent or a mortgage to pay. They have a kitchen table they need to put food on. They might have kids they need to provide for. It’s for them that we have to make this situation right.

First, we have to make this right by enforcing the rules that we all are supposed to abide by.

Second, we make this right by investing in our own team – namely America’s working men and women, because we know they can outcompete anyone if they are on a level playing field.

And finally, we can make this right by building on the progress we’ve made in the last couple of years in Congress, including by passing the CHIPS and Science Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

I know we can because the stakes are too high – even higher than the Bears versus the Packers. I look forward to working alongside the chairman and the rest of our committee to address these challenges and deliver for the American people.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Testimony of Steve Kramer, President, United Steelworkers Local 9777:

Chairman Gallagher, Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Steve Kramer and I’ve been a Steelworker for almost 43 years. I started at a company, now called Allied Tube, in the southside of Chicago, working there for nearly 30 years as an operator and a millwright. For the remainder of that time, I have had the honor of servicing union members as the President of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9777.

My responsibility is to the workers of 38 different corporations that mostly manufacture products in the Chicago area. These companies are small-and-medium-sized factories where USW members do everything from fabricating steel, making furniture, baking ice cream cones, to creating chemicals.

These workers take pride in what they do every day. They should be excused for thinking more about making it through their shift safely and getting home to their loved ones, than they do about global competition with a country over 7,000 miles away. However, in my role I have seen the real world impacts of anti-competitive practices done by companies based in China.

Take for example, Brad Foote Gear Works – a number of years ago this plant employed up to 500 workers, but today they only have around 80 to 90 employees. Twelve years ago, the company featured their $50 million-dollar investment to make gears for wind towers.  Today, they’ve been holding their own, but not growing.

A big reason they are just holding on is that while gearboxes require precision manufacturing production, it is concentrated in a few locations with nearly half of the factories based in China. 

Unfortunately, China’s massive subsidies of technology have propelled its own producers over U.S. firms, shut the U.S. out of China’s wind market, driven down world prices, and caused lost sales in the U.S. market.

Pipe and tube mills have felt the same effect. It is devastating anytime I get word, like I did around Christmas last year, that a mill is going down to just three days, and workers are losing their hours around the holidays.

These couple of examples are why our elected leaders need to do more to foster domestic manufacturing. This starts with smart, targeted trade enforcement to defend American workers from illegal subsidies and anti-competitive practices. I visit manufacturing plants nearly every day and I know that if they have a level playing field, our members can outperform and outwork anyone.

The 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum have allowed the five pipe and tube mills I’m responsible for servicing to stabilize. They’ve helped, but workers and employers know elected officials can create uncertainty by undermining them. There needs to be long term certainty to incentivize manufacturers to invest.

That is why the USW is supportive of legislation that would update our trade laws, including “Leveling the Playing Field Act 2.0”. We must ensure that our trade rules don’t let Chinese content slip through other countries.

We also need to invest in our workers. According to the Government Accountability Office, the U.S. spends less than 0.1 percent of our country’s gross domestic product on job training, while our competitors in Europe spend nearly four times this amount. 

There is a bit of a culture shock for young people when they come to manufacturing. The needs of 38 plants are each going to be slightly different, and Congress should support collective bargaining agreements which have job training language, and what we call “internal apprenticeships”. These are job training programs that can be between a workplace, the union, and potentially, a school. Often some of the best training a worker can receive is simply having someone experienced there with you. It is essentially a “big brother or sister” that can help a worker orient themselves into the environment.

The union is also supportive of the domestic investments in our infrastructure, clean energy, and manufacturing. The Build America, Buy America initiative also ensures that our tax dollars go to American manufacturers, and should be strongly implemented and enforced.

Finally, we need to recognize that strong democratic unions, unlike the state-run unions in China, are a valuable tool to improving the lives of all working people. Republicans and Democrats have long recognized this. Even President Reagan supported workers in Poland as they rose up and fought for their right to have an independent trade union.

Our country has faced many threats since our founding. However, I believe in our democracy, and that our ingenuity will, if Congress sets the right policy, allow us to counter even the worst of China’s practices. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.

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