Tribune Review: Geithner Rallies Steelworkers
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner preached economic hope Wednesday, promising the government will boost the recovery by helping small businesses gain access to credit, rebuild infrastructure and improve the market for exports.
But his upbeat message didn't ease concerns among Pittsburgh business executives and others over trade and currency problems with China.
"The economy as a whole is going to start creating jobs. We're very confident we're starting to come out of it," Geithner said yesterday during a news conference at the United Steelworkers Building, Downtown.
Earlier, Geithner toured Allegheny Technologies Inc.'s steel plate mill in Washington, before meeting in USW headquarters with a group of Pittsburgh business executives and labor leaders that included Steelworkers President Leo Gerard.
The tour showed Geithner the advanced technology necessary for manufacturing companies to produce precision steel products, Gerard said. Geithner saw how steel came into the plate mill as an ingot and is rolled to form a plate, Gerard said.
"It's not the Rust Belt. It's the industrial heartland," Gerard said of the region's manufacturing base.
While Geithner said the economy is showing signs of a gradual recovery from the depths of the recession that began in December 2007, the nation's unemployment rate remains at 9.7 percent in February; and the state's rate is at 8.9 percent, the highest in 25 years. The seven-county Pittsburgh region's unemployment rate for January was 8.1 percent.
The nation has lost 8.4 million jobs since the recession began, while the Pittsburgh region has lost about 63,000 in the same period.
Business leaders stressed to Geithner the importance of a manufacturing agenda that promotes strong job creation -- through a sound energy policy and leveling the playing field for American exports, U.S. Steel Corp. CEO John Surma said.
Allegheny Technologies CEO L. Patrick Hassey said he told Geithner that the government needs to supply incentives for investment in manufacturing. Manufacturing jobs can be created through infrastructure improvements and an increase in investment in the projects that promote green energy sources, he said.
The administration wants Congress to pass new tax cuts and credit programs for small businesses, enact comprehensive financial reform and fund infrastructure improvements that put people back to work, Geithner said. A second economic stimulus package could cost about $250 billion, Geithner said.
Even so, analysts say, a barrier to the economic recovery remains, with China flooding the United States with unfairly traded products and its government subsidizing manufacturers and not allowing its currency to float in value against other currencies. Last week, executives from leading steel companies expressed their concerns during a Congressional Steel Caucus hearing about how trade practices in that country affect their companies.
Geithner said China's economic growth remains important to the United States and increasing Beijing's domestic demand will benefit American manufacturers, but he sidestepped criticism of its currency policy. He said the administration will work with China to make its currency more flexible, and he believes Beijing will respond.
That will create a "level playing field for American exports," Geithner said.
Gerard said the United States needs an approach to China that not only addresses the currency manipulation and unfair trade but raises the wages of Chinese workers so they can buy some of the products their country produces.
Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, who participated in a private forum with Geithner and about a dozen local steel industry and business leaders, called for the administration to take a tougher stance in its dealings with China to protect U.S. businesses and jobs. Among the participants were RTI International Metals Inc. CEO Dawne Hickton, Consol Energy Inc. COO Nicholas Deluliis, Equitable Resources Inc. CEO Murry Gerber, Surma and Hassey.
"Idle threats and reliance on the inconsistent words of China's leaders is not enough. Ending China's practice of currency manipulation, enforcing trade laws and eliminating customs fraud, supporting 'Buy American' provisions ... will preserve and revitalize our domestic manufacturing industry," Murphy said.
The Alliance for American Manufacturing, a trade group composed of the USW and corporations, estimated that Pennsylvania has lost about 195,400 jobs between 2001 and 2008 because of trade with China. That job loss represents about 1.6 percent of statewide employment.
Joe Napsha can be reached at jnapsha@tribweb.com or 724-836-5252.[ Back to News ]
