Washington —Michigan and Ohio’s U.S. senators urged the Obama administration Tuesday to investigate unfair foreign trade practices and defend manufacturing jobs at Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool Corp.
In a letter to the U.S. Commerce Department, Sens. Carl Levin, D-Detroit; Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, asked the government to enforce trade laws to “level the playing field for companies like Whirlpool.”
In December, Whirlpool filed a case with the Commerce Department regarding the dumping of large residential washers, made in South Korea and Mexico, into the U.S. market.
“In order to create an environment to encourage (the) repatriation (of jobs), we must ensure that companies that do bring jobs home to the United States, such as Whirlpool, are not handicapped by unfair trade practices perpetrated by their foreign competitors,” the senators wrote. “When companies engage in dumping and benefit from unfair foreign government subsidies, it harms American companies and workers and the communities in which they operate.”
Whirlpool has nine manufacturing plants in the United States. Five of them are located in Ohio, including its largest in Clyde. The company has 22,000 U.S. employees. Today, 80 percent of what Whirlpool sells in America is manufactured in America, while its foreign competitors make no appliances here.
“Our companies, like Whirlpool, can compete with anyone in the world when there is a level playing field,” said Brown, who visited Whirlpool’s Clyde plant this week. “But what’s happening to Whirlpool has happened to too many American industries — our manufacturers are being undermined and undercut by illegal trade practices carried out by our trading partners.”
Portman, a University of Michigan graduate who has been touted as a possible GOP vice presidential nominee, agreed.
“Ohio companies who play by the rules should not be penalized by the unfair practices of foreign competitors,” Portman said. “Manufacturers such as Whirlpool, who provide good jobs for hardworking Ohioans, can compete with anyone as long as trade rules are being enforced.”
Levin said “taking action against foreign competitors engaged in dumping is vital to maintaining that level playing field for companies and their workers making products in the United States.”
Stabenow said the U.S. needs “to make sure foreign competitors are playing by the rules and not engaging in anti-competitive trade practices that undermine our businesses.”
The senators want the Commerce Department to apply anti-dumping and countervailing duties on these washers if needed to create a level playing field.
Whirlpool has brought back more U.S. manufacturing jobs than all its major competitors combined.
In 2010, Whirlpool brought the production of front load washer production home to its plant in Clyde. In a volatile period, that move secured 500 jobs on the line and more in support in the nearby communities. Clyde employment reached approximately 3,600 at the end of 2010.
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