Interview With Commerce Secretary Don Evans
DOBBS: My guest announced this week that the White House will create a special team to track down and fight unfair trade practices in China, and around the world, for that matter. Commerce Secretary Don Evans also plans to travel to China to address the concerns that he's heard from many U.S. manufacturers. Secretary Evans joins us tonight from Washington, D.C. Mr. Secretary, good to have you with us.</s>DON EVANS, COMMERCE SECRETARY: Thank you, Lou. Great to be with you.</s>DOBBS: The administration take steps now, as we have just reported moments ago. The five-year deficit with China is staggering. This problem, why is it come to the forefront now for both Congress and this administration?</s>EVANS: Well, Lou, maybe there's a little more focus on it at this moment. But let me tell you, we've been focused on it since January of 2001. I took a trip to China well over a year ago, talked to them about some of the unfair trade practices that we were very concerned about, intellectual property protection being one of them. And so this has been a dialogue discussion that's been going on certainly for the full 2 1/2 years of this administration. We have been very clear with China that we are going to encourage them to adopt the kind of fiscal policies, monetary policies, that will create long-term growth in their country. But we expect for them to enforce the trade agreements that they sign. And we expect that there's going to be a level playing feel for the American workers.</s>DOBBS: A level playing field. As Peter Viles just reported, the Chinese, other nations as well, here in the United States recruiting with American corporations, suggesting that they move their enterprises to China, because you can hire 10 times as many, in the case of the Peter Viles report today, 10 software engineers for each one that you can hire in the United States.</s>EVANS: Yes. Lou, listen, we're the most competitive nation in the world. And one of the things my travel across America really rang clearly to me was that we can compete against anybody on a level playing field. And that's true today. And so, when I think about the competition around the world and maybe lower wage rates in other countries, I assure you that this work force of ours in America can compete with anybody in the world, white collar or blue collar, as long as it's a level playing feel, we're all playing by the same rules. Right now, our workers have got a choke collar around them, not only because of some of the unfair trade practices around the world, but also, quite frankly, Lou, a choke collar just because of some -- health care costs are rising dramatically in this country. The lawsuit burden that these companies face here in America is causing an excess burden on our manufacturers. So I'm not concerned about us competing with the rest of the world, as long as we're on a level playing field.</s>DOBBS: Well, I love what you said earlier this week. We can compete, blue-collar workers, white-collar works. It's the choke collar we have a problem with. The choke collar, though, goes beyond health care costs and to litigation costs. It goes to the issue of environmental laws that American business employers have to deal with, as well as their workers. It goes to a host of other issues. The playing field is not level. The American worker is getting simply killed in this environment. Is this something that the administration, that you, Mr. Secretary, are going to deal with right away?</s>EVANS: Well, we are. The president is going to deal with it. He has been dealing with it for the first 2 1/2 years of this administration, to begin with., We needed to cut the tax burden on the backs of the American people and American businesses all across this nation. And because of his leadership and three successive tax cuts, we're seeing our economy to begin to pick up steam now. GDP, as you know, in the second quarter was 3.1 percent. We expect -- most economists expect it to be in the 4 to 5 percent range in the third and fourth quarter. But the president recently came out with an economic growth agenda that focused on the topics that you just talked about, rising health care costs. We need medical liability reform that's come out of the House to his desk. We need an energy bill to get to his desk. We need legal reform in this country to remove the lawsuit burden on the backs of the American people and American workers. And we also need to make tax cuts permanent, because families, as well as businesses, like to plan their future. And it's awful tough to plan your future if you don't know what the rules are going to be in the years head. So the president was very strong about the permanency and certainty of tax cuts. This is what will create the conditions for more jobs in America. And, as I have said many, many times, the top three economic priorities of this administration and the president, the first one is jobs. The second one is jobs. And the third one is jobs. And we're going to continue to fight very hard for creating the conditions for creating more jobs in our economy.</s>DOBBS: Mr. Secretary, I think that most of us would, certainly at the very least, hypothetically, sign up for everything that you just said, endorse it, agree with you. I'll stipulate it. At the same time, we can't grow our way out of the situation we have now. We cannot grow our way economically into a level playing field. That's going to require a number of structural adjustments. What do you and what does the president then plan to do about that?</s>EVANS: Well, in terms of structural adjustments, Lou, what I would say, we need to enter more free trade agreements with people around the world. One of the disadvantages that American workers have today is, when we showed up in office, there were 100 free trade agreements around the world, markets open to other countries that were closed off to us or higher barriers to the American worker. When we showed up, there were 100 free trade agreements in the world and we were a party to three of them. Now, through the president's efforts, we got trade promotion authority passed.</s>DOBBS: Right.</s>EVANS: And now he has the authority to negotiate free trade agreements. And we're going to work very, very hard to open up markets for our small- and medium-sized companies, as well as large companies and our workers all around the world. So that's one of the structural adjustments that we will make.</s>DOBBS: Will the administration consider tariffs retaliation as well, should the Chinese, in particular, not live up to the standards of a level playing field?</s>EVANS: Lou, what we will do is, we will enforce our trade laws. I assure you of that. And we will be much more proactive than I think maybe people have been in the past. We're not going to sit around and wait for industry to come to us with a petition for a dumping case or a countervailing duty case. We're going to be very proactive and try and find areas of the world where we see unfair trade practices taking place. And we're going to go after them. And so, instead of just waiting in a passive kind of way for petitions to come to us, we're going to go after them.</s>DOBBS: Mr. Secretary, I think this is where I say, go get 'em. And thank you for being with us.</s>EVANS: You bet, Lou. Good to be with you.</s>DOBBS: Commerce Secretary Don Evans. Coming up next, we're going to that hostage situation at a community college in Tennessee. We'll have a live report for you. A gunman there is holding a number of people hostage. Also tonight: an American company that's fighting to keep its workers and their jobs here in the United States. Jan Hopkins will have that story. And then, "Shut Up and Sing." That's author Laura Ingraham's advice for celebrities and other so-called elites in this country, the advice she renders in her new book, "Shut Up and Sing." She's next. And Richard Grasso's reign as the head of the New York Stock Exchange tonight appears to be all about over. Christine Romans will have the very latest for us. Please stay with us.