Washington, DC — U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, released the following statement following the passage of the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act (S. 1619), of which he is an original cosponsor.

“As our economy recovers from the most devastating economic recession since the Great Depression and we work to create good-paying, high-quality jobs for Americans, we cannot ignore countries like China that engage in clearly unfair trading practices.  America cannot stand alone while our competitors break the rules – American companies and American workers depend on a level playing field when it comes to international trade and that is why it’s important that we move aggressively to counter any threat to our economy or our workers who may be harmed from clearly unfair trading practices.

“This bill gives us a powerful tool to address currency manipulation by any country – manipulation that reduces the price of imported goods, while raising the price of American made goods internationally. This legislation will help reduce our trade imbalances and, most importantly, create American jobs.  I call on Speaker Boehner and the House of Representatives to quickly pass this critically important bill.”

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