WASHINGTON -- The trade deficit figures released today by the U.S. Department of Commerce shed new light on the need for change in American trade policy.  According to the figures, the U.S. trade deficit for January 2006 grew to $68.5 billion, up from the previous shortfall of $65.1 billion in December 2005. 

The January 2006 trade deficit is 17.6 percent higher than the deficit for January 2005 ($58.3 billion).  Last year was a painful one for U.S. trade policy as weak negotiating positions and absent enforcement of trade rules contributed to a record deficit of $724 billion for the US.  
 
“The American people need a Congress and an Administration that will get tough on trade policy to rein in these runaway deficits,” said Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, Ranking Member of the House Trade Subcommittee.  “When you look at trade deficits in the context of growing foreign ownership of our national debt, you see that we’re increasingly beholden to the very countries whose markets we’d like to open to American goods.  Unless we reverse this dangerous trend, we’ll soon find ourselves without negotiating leverage to promote our trade agenda.”

In the near future, Democrats will continue unveiling their outline for a new direction in American trade policy including:

• Strengthening US anti-dumping enforcement
• Applying countervailing duties to non-market economies
• Ensuring international agreements do not weaken US trade remedy law
  
House Democrats, including members of the Ways and Means Committee and New Democrats, previously introduced the cornerstone provisions of their approach to trade policy, including:
 
• Creation of a Congressional Trade Enforcer (“CTE”) to promote and protect the rights of American workers, farmers and businesses, so that instead of exporting jobs, the United States will be exporting goods and services. 
 
• Aggressive enforcement of U.S. rights under trade agreements - The Bush Administration filed only 13 cases in the WTO in the last five years, as compared to the Clinton Administration, which brought an average of 11 cases per year.

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