House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) gave a speech this morning at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) that examined the ongoing challenges posed by U.S. trade with China:

Now, that takes us to a big issue I know you all are concerned about – our economic relationship with China.  We cannot ignore that China is our second largest trading partner overall and our third largest export market, offering the United States multiple opportunities.  While China presents the potential of 1.4 billion customers for our exports, it purposefully impedes market access for U.S. goods and services and blatantly steals the intellectual property of American businesses.

China’s currency misalignment continues to be a serious problem and one that attracts significant political attention.  The disagreement is not over whether China's currency is misaligned, but how to most effectively address this misalignment. 

Earlier this year, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus and I wrote to the Administration to encourage it to press the Chinese on the currency issue at the WTO.  While there have been some encouraging signs as China seeks to rebalance its economy away from export-led growth and undertakes limited financial sector reforms, China must do more.  The Administration should continue to aggressively press China to allow market forces to determine China’s currency and should seize opportunities in multilateral forums such as the WTO, IMF, and G20 to expand and intensify pressure on China. 

Read the full speech.