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Portman Wants To Crack Down On Chinese Subsidies In Next Trade Agreement

By Andy Chow

Published January 21, 2020 at 4:18 PM EST

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) [Statehouse News Bureau] — U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio)

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) says the new trade deal with China will level the playing field with the U.S., but he urges trade negotiators to be firm as they work on Phase Two.

Portman says the deal ensures China will buy more U.S. products both in agriculture and manufacturing, and that it deters intellectual property theft.

However, Portman says the next big step is to crack down on Chinese subsidies, which oversaturate the global market with cheaper products.

"If the Chinese product is sold fairly, in other words, if it's not unfairly subsidized and not sold to the lowest production cost, we can compete now," says Portman. "We have to insist that they live up to the commitment the other WTO countries have which is that they can't arbitrarily subsidize their product."

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is among the critics of the new agreement. He says the deal with China focuses on the interests of corporations rather than workers.