WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senator Bob Casey (D- PA) and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D- WI) are teaming up with the United Steelworkers (USW) and other unions to fight against, what they are calling “unfair Chinese trade practices in shipbuilding.”

The senators are pushing the Biden administration to investigate and impose tariffs on the Chinese Communist Party’s shipbuilding industry. 

On Tuesday, USW filed a petition under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to call on United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai to initiate a full investigation into the PRC’s unfair trade practices in the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors. 

“On a level playing field, American workers can out-compete anyone. That’s why Senator Baldwin and I are leading the effort in Congress to push the Biden Administration to investigate and impose tariffs on the Chinese Communist Party’s shipbuilding industry,” said Senator Bob Casey (D- PA).  

According to union leaders and senators, the U.S. has lost industrial shipbuilding capacity in recent decades, while the PRC’s subsidized shipbuilding has grown.  

Chinese state-owned enterprises and facilities are now capable of producing over 1,000 ocean-going vessels a year, while the United States currently produces fewer than ten. Senators say the PRC’s uncompetitive trade practices have led to 25,000 domestic shipbuilding suppliers leaving the U.S. market over the past 20 years. 

“China is an economic adversary of the United States of America. Full stop. That's what they are. They're an adversary. It's a predatory regime that undermines our workers in our industries every day of the week and has been doing it for many years now,” said Casey. “To protect the American steel industry, our workers, and our jobs, we’ve got to crack down and hold China accountable.”