Around the middle of next month, after all the data is in and counted, the United States Census Bureau will announce our 2011 trade deficit with China, and it will be the largest trade deficit any country has ever had with another country in the history of the world....

Press reports make clear that the president and the White House staff are working non-stop to put together a jobs program to announce on Labor Day. Obviously a good thing to do, given that unemployment appears to be stuck permanently above 9%. At that level, and with other financial indicators...

In a recent piece in the Financial Times, Larry Summers, former head of the National Economic Council, bemoaned the "lost decade" the United States is in the middle of. Economic growth is anemic and there is no job growth at all, only job losses.

The...

We have one trade problem in this country that so far surpasses every other one that it is almost not worth talking about any of the others. The problem is Chinese subsidy practices, and our resulting $260 billion sustained trade deficit with China. The problem has recently taken on a...

As President Obama prepares his State of the Union message, focusing on jobs, he should squarely face up to the problem of U. S. companies moving manufacturing jobs to China. All of the friendly handshakes with President Hu have not changed that.

Just a week ago, Evergreen Solar,...

Wouldn't it be nice if someone would come forward with a real jobs program? Instead the debate in Washington is on things like tax cuts and what to do -- next year -- with health care and the budget deficit. These are important subjects, but none of them will...

There was a wonderful book I read as a child called Half Magic. A group of children find a lucky magic token that could work wonders, but with a big caveat. It only gave you half of what you wished for. If you asked to be transported somewhere, you...

One of the most amazing things about the trade war we are fighting is that the U. S. government often does not appear to know we are even in a war. But if you go to any manufacturing town in this country, and look at the empty storefronts and...

Corporate citizens like Apple have a greater responsibility than just making money for their shareholders. They have a responsibility to the future of this country. Given the problems that are occurring at the Foxconn plant where they have been subcontracting iPad production, they should fulfill their responsibilities and move the...

The outcome of today's Security and Economic Dialogue (S & ED) talks in Beijing is discouraging for those of us who want to see an immediate effect on Main Street. No specific movement has taken place on currency issues. China's President Hu says he will take action on currency, but...

It is now time for the President and the Congress to turn to international trade. That should be the next big push. The area has been neglected on Capital Hill since 1994. It is hard to imagine why Americans have put up with it for so long. The benefits of...

The concept of reciprocity in trade has a long and storied history, and one that ought to be remembered today. Simply put, if we allow market access for the fruits of the great Chinese industrial machine, creating jobs for 100 million Chinese workers (the number of Chinese employed in manufacturing),...

Most Americans think we are giving it away for free when it comes to trade, and in many respects they are right.

The last decade has not been a good one for the United States in the international trade arena. We have lost over five million manufacturing jobs, and...

China has now undercut the two major international negotiations of this decade. First, they stopped the Doha Round trade negotiations cold in the summer of 2008. China, along with India, insisted on a special "safeguard" right to prevent imports of agricultural products into their countries from the United States...

I am glad that a company called Teletech Governmental Solutions in Englewood, Colorado used our stimulus funds to hire 635 call center employees to provide assistance to people transitioning to digital TV's. But I would be happier if a single one of those TV's were being made in the United...

If you were going to start a trade war against the United States, it is unlikely that your first salvo would be on chicken parts, or as the Chinese rather charmingly first announced, on dorkings. A dorking is a five toed chicken that flourishes in Surrey, England. The normal chicken...

Labor Day, earlier this week, could have been called Un-Labor Day or We-Need-More-Labor Day, with the unemployment rate reaching a 26-year high of 9.7%, and, according to the Washington Post, reaching the highest level ever measured if you include people who have given up looking for work -- 16.8%....

There are moments when a President can make a difference, not solely by the strength of his policies or by the use of military power. But by an emotional and symbolic gesture that sends a message throughout the entire world community. Twenty-one years ago the United States faced down...

Three events in the last few months highlight why the United States needs a Secretary of Manufacturing, who will sit at the Cabinet Table with as much sway and importance as the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Defense, or any other Cabinet Officer.

The first was the cancellation of...