A round-up on the Administration’s decision to apply countervailing duties to respond to China’s economic subsidies.

On CNBC, the NAM’s Frank Vargo, vice president, international economic affairs, appeared on CNBC for a discussion of the action. The video is here. Also interviewed is Robert Hormats, Goldman Sachs International vice chairman.

Vargo said this action makes proper use of WTO rules, which serve to head off protectionism by providing recourse to U.S. companies affected by Chinese subsidies.

“What this can lead to is the Chinese getting tired of this and saying, you know, the time has come for us to stop providing these subsidies. And they don’t have to anymore. They are now the world’s second largest exporter. They don’t need subsidies.”

The New York Times has a thorough, balanced piece on Friday’s action, available here. Reuters has a China reaction story here. Bloomberg, too, takes that angle in this story.

The specific case in question concerns China’s subsidies of coated paper products, i.e., catalogs, brochures, etc. We note that this case from 2003 still continues:

China began levying five-year, antidumping duties on Japanese and South Korean art paper imports Wednesday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Japanese and South Korean exporters of the coated paper — used mainly for color pictorials, advertisements and packaging — will reportedly be obliged to pay duties ranging from 4% to 71%, Xinhua said.

Interesting speculation about Senate action on S. 1041, the misleadingly named Employee Free Choice Act.

Some experts say that in order to get the bill out of committee and passed by the Senate, Democrats would be willing to compromise on card-check and arbitration. These possible moves are seen not as an abandonment of those provisions, but to get the bill through the Senate to a conference committee where differing House and Senate provisions of companion bills would be debated and where a single legislative vehicle could be agreed upon. Labor’s supporters would likely reinsert the compromised provisions during the conference debate, experts say.

Labor’s push in the weeks ahead includes meetings with senators, delegations to senators’ home offices and a week of action on college campuses from March 31 to April 4. The labor movement is urging its supporters to call their senators to support EFCA.

From the People’s Weekly World, the official organ of the CPUSA. Gotta say, the Commies are all over this bill. See here, here, and here.

The final link takes you to a speech by the PWW’s editor, Terrie Albano, upon the handing over of the Communist Party USA’s archives to New York University’s Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, March 23, 2007 in New York City. Fascinating moment of history and a fascinating speech, reviewing the current U.S. political scene. The text reads like a moderate Social Democrat talking. The renegade Kautsky would approve.

Nothing like a good shoe shine to set off a nice wardrobe — or to pick up a drab one. For any of you who, like us, spent hours in your youth shining shoes, you will be quite familiar with Kiwi Shoe Polish, a division of proud NAM member Sara Lee, and another great American manufacturing name.

Here from our good friends at PCN Tours is a tour of the Kiwi plant in Douglassville, Pennsylvania. First found in 1906 in Melbourne< Australia by Sir William Ramsey, Kiwi (named in honor of Sir Williams' wife, who was a New Zealander), it made its way to the US and became a staple of World Wars I and II.

Plant manager John Hughes takes you on a tour, beginning with four key kinds of waxes -- mineral, carnuba, paraffin and crystalline - and wending their way all the way through the paste and polish, packaging and out the door.

So put up your newly-shined shoes, sit back and click here to watch this week’s video of Cool Stuff Being Made – and feel the manufacturing vibe.

Friday was a big day in the history of U.S.-Chinese trade relationships, as much for what it represents as for the action itself. The Administration, acting through the U.S. Department of Commerce (release here), decided it would apply U.S. countervailing duty law to China’s exports of coated paper products, the first time that the law has been used in relation to non-market economies.

The action is a measured yet forceful response to unfair Chinese trade policies, that is, subsidies to a favored industry. As NAM President John Engler said in a release:

“Many manufacturers tell me that Chinese products sell for less than the cost of the raw materials in the product, meaning that they are likely being subsidized. Until today there was no remedy, since Commerce would not offset subsidies in non-market economies like China. Now we are beginning to level that playing field.

The action also reflects the historic development of China away from the rigid command economy, ruled by Communist terror, to a mixed economy with certain, however limited spheres of individual automony. By acceding to the WTO in 2001, China joined the international trading order, accepting a legal structure that provides a process for resolving disputes. A disagreement over trading practices doesn’t have to blow up into a full-scale trade war; legislative retaliation becomes a last resort, instead of the first. Secretary Gutierrez stated the case well:

“China’s economy has developed to the point that we can add another trade remedy tool, such as the countervailing duty law. The China of today is not the China of years ago. Just as China has evolved, so has the range of our tools to make sure Americans are treated fairly. By acting on the petition filed last October, the United States today is demonstrating its continued commitment to leveling the playing field for American manufacturers, workers and farmers.”

The announcement Friday represents a shift in U.S. policy first established in 1984, when Commerce determined not to apply U.S. countervailing duty laws to non-market economies. The NAM sought this change, submitting comments to Commerce on Jan. 12. And the NAM certainly applauds the specific action and will support the effort as it moves through the official process. Engler:

“This case expands the Administration’s efforts to address China’s distortions of trade and to move in the direction of a more sustainable and mutually-beneficial trade relationship. However, it is a preliminary decision, as the case must now go to the International Trade Commission for a determination of injury to the U.S. industry. We hope for a quick response from the ITC that will result in effective action against subsidies.”

Investor’s Business Daily story here. Forbes‘ story here.

According to China Daily, the Chinese government is not happy with the decision. The English translation does not sound too extreme, though.

A new study by the Pacific Research Institute reports that America’s broken system of civil litigation imposes an economic cost of $865 billion a year on the nation. This week on “American Business,” host Mike Hambrick talks to Renee Giachino of the American Justice Partnership to dig deeper into this “Jackpot Justice” and the harm it causes across all sectors of the economy. And when it comes to health care, research and development and “defensive medicine,” our tort system is even costing lives.

America’s transportation infrastructure is failing to keep up with the demands of a modern, global economy, and this week, Mike looks at America’s waterways. He interviews John Paul “J.P” Woodley, Jr., the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, who oversees the infrastructure responsible for $10 billion of business a year in domestic shipping. Tim Gallagher, senior vice president and general manager, Grain Division of Bunge North America, speaks to ships, barges and grain.

Responding to consumer demand, the national restaurant chain, T.G.I. Fridays is serving less, hoping to get more. Richard Snead, President and CEO of Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Inc. discusses the business strategy that embraces healthy eating and profits both.

IT security is a constant business concern, and Bret Arsenault, general manager of U.S. Enterprise Security for Microsoft, talks about the tools needed to keep information safe. Joining the discussion is Vinita Boo-Shun, president of Pontis Research, who adds the perspective of an IT security consulting firm.

In our regular segments, we hear from “The Factory Floor” with President Ray Lund of Thermex Thermatron in Louisville, KY; the NAM’s Hank Cox considers “The Way it Was,” and NAM President John Engler closes with “The Last Word,” finding good news in America’s nuclear renaissance.

For more on “America’s Business” and to listen to the program on-line, please click here.

Since we’ve given the Democratic candidates for president plenty of space to state their position on the risibly named Employee Free Choice Act, it seems only fair to check in with the Republicans. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliami and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney have both spoken to the issue recently. In a far-reaching interview with Larry Kudlow on economic issues,Giuliani said this:

I find it very, very odd when I listen to Democrats, you know, talking about their interest in democracy and the right to vote and they want to take away–they want to take away this sacred right from employees in making a decision about whether they should be members of a union. Why shouldn’t they have a right to a secret ballot? That’s probably the most honest, that’s the most traditional way of doing it, that’s the way they do it when they elect public officials. And if they want to have a union, God bless them. If they want to have a union, that should be their free choice. If they don’t want to have a union, that should be their free choice. And there should be no intimidation involved where it has to be done–where it has to be done publicly where people can pressure them and people can put them out of undue pressure on them.

Speaking to The Club for Growth in Florida Thursday, Romney made card check one of the points in his economic platform:

Governor Romney Supports The Rights Of Workers To Decide Whether To Join A Union Or Not. Democrats want to deny workers the right to make the decision on whether to unionize by secret ballot and mandate that unionization be allowed by a “card check” system. We oppose taking away workers’ rights to a secret ballot.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-UT, has issued a scathing news release on Sen. Edward Kennedy’s introduction of the egregiously misnamed Employee Free Choice Act, S. 1041. The essential point about the bill is always worth repeating.

“This bill is unionization by intimidation…We wouldn’t allow politicians to bully voters at the ballot box, and we shouldn’t allow unions to do the same to employees. It seems obvious that big labor just wants to rebuild its membership rolls — and its bank account — through a forced unionization process.”

Elsewhere, Investor’s Business Daily examines the role of big labor in the Democratic presidential contest and other campaigns. Quick version: The unions are calling the shots.

Card-check bill supporters, such as Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., concede it has little chance of passing this Congress. The GOP is staunchly opposed, and President Bush has issued a veto threat.

But unions nevertheless want Congress to take it up — and they’ll carefully watch who does and does not support it, Borosage said.

Labor’s support in 2008 might well turn on whether card check and other union priorities become the candidate’s key issues, he said.

Apparently many candidates actually have hired chiropractors to travel on the campaign planes with them. You never know when you’ll need an adjustment after bending over backwards all day.

The Examiner leads its opinion section today with an editorial drawing on the recent Pacific Research Institute’s study, “Jackpot Justice: The True Cost of America’s Tort System.” The study’s great value is in assessing the full impact, economic and societal, of America’s out-of-whack system of civil litigation. The consequences of defensive medicine and withheld research resulting from fear of lawsuits are even a matter of life and death.

Among the other health care costs calculated by the PRI are an estimated 3.4 million people who can’t get insurance because of excessive premiums and, worst of all, 114,000 people who “would be alive and working today, but are not due to inefficiencies in the tort system over the last two decades” that delayed critically needed new drugs and treatments.

The Examiner also completes a two-part package on the tort system today with a piece called, “Why tort lawyers usually win without going to trial.” (The Examiner’s first story, “Shakedown artists — or defenders of the little guy?”, provides a fine primer on class-action lawsuits.) Today’s report features a scary, but all too typical anecdote:

In an article for the San Jose Mercury News, Cypress Semiconductor CEO T. J. Rodgers described what it’s like to be the target of a suit. Following an earnings revision and a drop in Cypress stock, class-action lawyers sued the company for fraud. During discovery, “we spent two years and $1 million providing 750,000 pages of memoranda for the other side,” Rodgers wrote.

The trial lawyers offered to settle. All Cypress had to do was fork over $120 million. Rodgers refused. A judge later dismissed the case, saying “no reasonable jury could find that any of Cypress’ statements were false or misleading.

Multiply those costs to business thousands of times and you begin to get just a glimmer of the economic harm of these suits.

Prospects for tort reform have taken a turn for the worse in Congress since last November’s elections, but state by state, legislative palliation is still possible — and definitely necessary. The Examiner’s coverage of the tort system should be on the desk of every lawmaker in the country.

In light of all our posts from yesterday from the Blog Row, we just wanted to update you and note that in fact, the Democrats’ budget plan passed the House by a pretty slim margin yesterday, 216-210.

As this AP article notes, the budget does nothing to rein in entitlement spending and claims to balance the budget by scrapping the recent tax cuts. You can accuse the GOP of rhetoric if you want, but it does seem that any way you slice it, this bill equals a tax increase for most everybody.

We’ve said in this space many times that we pushed for the tax cuts because we know that tax cuts lead to investment and investment leads to growth. That happened and we grew our way out of recession. Federal tax receipts are at an all-time high thank to the tax cuts. Once they sunset, tax receipts will head in the other direction.

Among the taxes sunsetted in the Dems’ plan is the death tax — hitting American small manufacturers hardest. The marriage penalty tax was reinstated and the child tax credit was cut in half. By some estimates, 115 million taxpayers would see their taxes increase on average by almost $1800.

Here’s a link to the roll call vote and here’s a link to a congressional directory. You should see how your member voted and weigh in accordingly.

Stuck in that dead-end job? (Not if you’re working for a manufacturer, but you other service-sector lurkers out there — you know who you are…) Wish you’d gone for that advanced degree so you, too, could be like the blogger-in-chief? What a great gig, we know.

Well, it’s not too late. Don’t worry if you don’t have the money, don’t have the time, don’t have the brains (like you ever needed them.) Nope, it’s all easy now. Thanks to the good folks at ShopIntuition.com there is now “Law School in a Box.” It helps you bypass a three-year grind with only one much-streamlined textbook. It’s 96 pages long, so it’s a beast, but hey, you can save a bundle. For only $14.95 you are guaranteed a complete legal education.

If the law isn’t for you, if you’re more of a left-brain science type, then try “Med School in a Box.” This also gets you there in 96 pages, comes with the degree — and trading cards. We sure didn’t get trading cards in law school.

Time to boost the career. Check or money order, you can be done in a week or so. How hard could it be? In fact, why not do both, get a double degree? If things get slow you could always sue yourself. (Don’t think some lawyers haven’t tried…)

Can “Congressman in a Box” be far behind….?