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<div><br class=""><div class="">Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">April 27, 2015 at 10:36:59 AM EDT<br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">From: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="mailto:Council@usbusiness.org" class="">Council@usbusiness.org</a><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Manufacturers Call Out Japan on Currency Manipulation</b></span></div><br class=""><div class="">
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<td align="left" class=""><!-- BEGIN Content Area 1 --><p style="text-align: center;" class=""><img src="http://images.magnetmail.net/images/clients/USBIC/USBICLogo.jpg" border="0" width="500" height="105" alt="" title="" class=""></p><div class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class=""> <span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class="">Contact Kevin L. Kearns: 202 957 9994 (cell); 202 266 3980 (office) </span></span> </p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class=""><b class=""><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">Domestic U.S. Manufacturers Target Japanese Currency Manipulation</span></b></span></span></p><div class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class=""> </span></span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class=""><i class=""><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">Full-page ad in Washington Post urges Congress to stand up to Tokyo on currency undervaluation</span></i></span></span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class="">WASHINGTON, D.C., April 27 - <span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">The members of the U.S. Business and Industry Council (USBIC) today called on Congress to take effective action against continued currency manipulation by Japan and other East Asian nations. The group, which has represented domestic manufacturers since 1933, published a full page
<b class=""><a href="http://www.mmsend2.com/link.cfm?r=2129248706&sid=73745518&m=9970166&u=USBIC&j=27376757&s=http://images.magnetmail.net/images/clients/USBIC/attach/USBICBrickWallFinal.jpg" class="">ad</a> </b>in today</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">'</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">s Washington Post urging Congress to knock down the </span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">"</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">brick wall</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">" </span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">of Japan</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">'</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">s currency barrier.</span></span></span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class=""><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">As USBIC president Kevin L. Kearns explained, the ad coincides with Japanese Prime Minister Abe</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">'</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">s visit to Washington this week. The Abe administration has engaged in a series of policies designed to lower the value of the yen against the dollar and other currencies.</span></span></span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class=""><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">Said Kearns, </span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">"</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">The Japanese have manipulated their currency one way or another throughout the entire post-WW II period.</span> <span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">The latest version is so-called Abenomics. It</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">'</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">s high time this currency manipulation stopped. Since President Obama refuses to do anything about it except engage in chit-chat diplomacy while America</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">'</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">s manufacturers lose market share and profits, and American workers lose their jobs, Congress must act </span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">— </span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">either through the mechanism of the Trans-Pacific Partnership or in a free-standing bill.</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">"</span></span></span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class=""><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">As Washington considers a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with 11 other nations including Japan, Kearns explained, </span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">"</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">Currency manipulation is the number one trade barrier of the 21st Century. Japan</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">'</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">s record of currency manipulation is fairly egregious, with Tokyo intervening in currency markets 376 times since 1991. Currency manipulation must be addressed in trade negotiations or those negotiations are a failure.</span> <span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">It doesn</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">'</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">t matter how much the Japanese agree to open their agricultural and automotive markets in TPP negotiations if the value of their currency is so low as to prohibit the purchases of American goods by Japanese consumers.</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">"</span></span></span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class=""><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">Kearns continued, </span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">"</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">Abenomics, a series of Japanese fiscal, monetary, and tax policies, is ostensibly designed to boost the Japanese inflation rate toward 2 percent and end two decades of alleged economic stagnation.</span> <span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">However, Abenomics is a ruse designed primarily to lower the value of the yen and thus increase Japanese exports to the United States and third countries, while making America</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">'</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">s and other countries</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">' </span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">products less competitive in Japan, in the United States, and in other markets.</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">"</span></span></span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class=""><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">Kearns asked, </span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">"</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">How many industries, factories, and jobs do we have to lose before our policy makers wake up and address this illegal practice, which drives down the value of the yen to achieve market advantage? Unfortunately, the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee in their respective markups of fast track bills last week rejected amendments that would have created strong and effective tools to fight currency manipulation. That means that the issue has to be addressed when these bills
come up for floor action in each body.</span><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">"</span></span></span></p><p class=""><a href="http://www.mmsend2.com/link.cfm?r=2129248706&sid=73745519&m=9970166&u=USBIC&j=27376757&s=http://images.magnetmail.net/images/clients/USBIC/attach/USBICBrickWallFinal.jpg" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class=""><b class=""><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">Click here to view USBIC</span></b><b class=""><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">'</span></b><b class=""><span style="color: rgb(67, 67, 67);" class="">s new ad.</span></b></span></span></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class="">-30- </span></span></p><div class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class=""><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class=""><em class="">The USBIC was founded in 1933 to represent the concerns of America's small </em></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class=""><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class=""><em class="">and medium-sized business community. Member companies are typically family-owned or privately held, mostly in the manufacturing sector. They are often the major employers in their home communities and the mainstays of the local economy. This membership composition has given the USBIC an outlook on issues more rooted in main street America than other national business groups, which are dominated by giant multinational corporations with global agendas and dwindling national loyalties. </em></span></span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class=""><em class=""> </em></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;" class="">__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</span></div><p style="text-align: center;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class="">UNITED STATES BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY COUNCIL · 512 C ST. NE · WASHINGTON, DC 20002
<br class=""></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class=""> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;" class="">(202) 266-3980 · (202) 266-3981 FAX · <a href="mailto:COUNCIL@USBUSINESS.ORG" class="">COUNCIL@USBUSINESS.ORG</a> · <a href="http://WWW.AMERICANECONOMICALERT.ORG" class="">WWW.AMERICANECONOMICALERT.ORG</a> </span> </p>
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