"Since the President took office in January 2017, the manufacturing sector has added 348,000 jobs, with year-over-year manufacturing job growth in 2018 increasing at the fastest rate since 1995."

To ensure this manufacturing renaissance continues, the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration is using every tool at its disposal to level the playing field for American companies and workers. We are aggressively fighting predatory foreign trade practices, breaking down barriers to American exports, addressing the theft of intellectual property and designs, and challenging market-distorting industrial subsidies that continue to harm American industries.

To help mitigate the threat of trade cheats, the Department of Commerce has achieved a 15-year high for trade enforcement cases. The antidumping and countervailing duty investigation process utilizes a transparent, evidence-based, and internationally accepted mechanism to correct for inequitable trade policies that benefit foreign companies at the expense of American workers and businesses. During the 20 months since President Trump took office, the Commerce Department has launched 124 trade investigations, compared to 38 investigations started during the same period of the Obama Administration.

In addition, we are prioritizing enforcement actions that address unfair Chinese trade practices. On August 28, 2018, the Trump Administration announced its 39th investigation into unfairly traded Chinese goods. It took the Obama Administration three years to reach this milestone. And, for the first time in over 25 years, the Commerce Department self-initiated trade cases on Chinese aluminum sheet exports.

To address the flood of imports that threaten domestic industries critical to the security of our nation, the Department has launched investigations under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 on steel, aluminum, automobiles and auto parts, and uranium.

The Department concluded that imports of steel and aluminum threaten to impair national security, and the President has put in place tariffs and quotas that are enabling American steel and aluminum industries to get back on their feet. We are continuing our work on the other investigations, and will report the results to the President.

With the economy growing and the manufacturing sector on the road to recovery, the Department of Commerce is taking action to level the playing field for American businesses. We have moved quickly and aggressively to address the predatory trade practices eroding America's manufacturing base by using the tools Congress created to address these challenges.

President Trump has made it clear that the United States will no longer allow its workers and the communities in which they live to be harmed by unfair trade practices. The Trump Administration will fight on their behalf in any way we can.

Wilbur Ross is U.S. Secretary of Commerce and a member of the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).

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