"American Companies are Competing against the Chinese Government..."

Posted by scapozzola on 11/12/2010

In McClatchy News, correspondent Kevin Hall reports on a copper production company in Rome, NY that dates back to the colonial days of Paul Revere.  Hall says the company, Revere Copper, is struggling to stay in business as it watches its "customers keep moving abroad, primarily to China."

Hall quotes Revere Copper Chairman Brian O'Shaugnessy, who explains his predicament:

Since the year 2000, we have seen more than 30 percent of the facilities we ship product to in the United States shut down, or move offshore. Most of them initially moved to Mexico, but they have since moved to China.  When that happens, we have fewer manufacturing companies to ship product to in this country, so the competition for that smaller industrial base that we ship to is pretty fierce.

O'Shaughnessy says that "Republicans and Democrats...both fail to recognize that global competition is no longer between companies. Rather, U.S. companies compete against countries that align their trade policies to capture markets."

Essentially, O'Shaughnessy's company is competing against the subsidies of the Chinese government.  Hall quotes
Scott Paul, Executive Director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), on the need to confront China's massive subsidies: "History shows us that the way to stop mercantilism is to ensure that there are consequences."

Read more.

Related recent Blogs

@KeepitMadeinUSA on Twitter