(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson is introducing a bill she says aims to change trade laws so China can no longer “take advantage of U-S workers and rip off U-S businesses.” Hinson, a Republican from Marion, says federal agents recently raided an Ohio warehouse that’s a subsidiary of a Chinese auto parts maker, which had been shipping in parts via Thailand to avoid import taxes. Hinson says the practice causes “severe economic harm to American competitors.” “For decades, Communist China and its subsidiaries frequently and purposefully violate U.S. trade laws,” Hinson says. “They do that through fraud, through duty evasion, and trans shipments, leading to the closures of U.S. factories and a lot of good-paying manufacturing jobs.”

The U-S Department of Justice currently has a trade fraud task force, but Hinson says it’s only seen limited success. “My bill aims to combat these crimes by directing the Department of Justice to establish a new initiative, specifically dedicated to prosecuting international trade crimes,” she says. “This bill specifically establishes a new task force or similar initiative within the DOJ Criminal Division to investigate and prosecute trade-related crimes.” Hinson says the Chinese Communist Party, or C-C-P, is responsible for siphoning billions of dollars from the U-S economy.  “We do have to continue to be clear-eyed about Communist China,” Hinson says. “They will not play by the rules. They will not follow the law. China enjoys Most Favored Nation trade status with us, while simultaneously violating our trade laws that are in place to protect American workers and businesses.”

Hinson says the D-O-J task force is “under-resourced,” so her bill would allot 20-million dollars to establish the new task force.  “It may be something that we have to revisit in a year,” Hinson says. “$20 million may not be enough to target this. We just need to get a good gauge on how many of these cases they’re able to go after. But we did work directly with the DOJ in crafting this bill to make sure that it was exactly what they needed in terms of the tools to be able to specifically target and go after the CCP for these trade related crimes.”

Hinson says the bill, the Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act, has bi-partisan and bi-cameral support.