2.09.2006
Democrats Urge Action on Soaring Trade Gap (Reuters.com)
Wed Feb 8, 2006 7:25 PM ET15
By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers blamed the Bush administration on Wednesday for the skyrocketing U.S. trade deficit and called for the creation of a "Congressional Trade Enforcer" to make sure the United States prosecutes other countries that cheat on their trade obligations.
A government report due out on Friday is expected to show the U.S. trade deficit set a record in 2005 at about $725 billion. That would be about double the level it was in 2001, the year that President George W. Bush took office.
Wall Street analysts also expect the deficit for just the month of December to total about $65 billion -- or more than twice the entire annual deficit in 1991.
"Enough's enough," Rep. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, told reporters. "It's not sustainable. We can't continue to have these kind of trade imbalances and continue to have the standard of living that Americans expect and enjoy and the jobs that we need here in America."
Cardin and other Democrats on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee said the Bush administration has contributed to the record trade gap by filing few cases against other countries at the World Trade Organization for alleged violations of trade rules.
(More ... Politics News Article | Reuters.com) ¶ 19:44
By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers blamed the Bush administration on Wednesday for the skyrocketing U.S. trade deficit and called for the creation of a "Congressional Trade Enforcer" to make sure the United States prosecutes other countries that cheat on their trade obligations.
A government report due out on Friday is expected to show the U.S. trade deficit set a record in 2005 at about $725 billion. That would be about double the level it was in 2001, the year that President George W. Bush took office.
Wall Street analysts also expect the deficit for just the month of December to total about $65 billion -- or more than twice the entire annual deficit in 1991.
"Enough's enough," Rep. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, told reporters. "It's not sustainable. We can't continue to have these kind of trade imbalances and continue to have the standard of living that Americans expect and enjoy and the jobs that we need here in America."
Cardin and other Democrats on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee said the Bush administration has contributed to the record trade gap by filing few cases against other countries at the World Trade Organization for alleged violations of trade rules.
(More ... Politics News Article | Reuters.com) ¶ 19:44
