Some Wisconsin manufacturers are voicing concern about what they say is unfair competition from China.
The House of Representatives' Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held a roundtable in Southern Wisconsin Wednesday.
Joe Dillon, of garbage disposal maker InSinkErator, was one of the business executives invited to the session. Whirlpool bought the Racine firm last year. Dillon told the committee that Chinese competitors are constantly stealing InSinkErator's technology.
"Our patents give our advantage to our products, and so we have to defend that. We also find in some cases that the products that come in, look like our products. Our products have a distinctive look. It could confuse the consumer. When they see a product that looks very similar to ours, they may buy it by mistake," Dillon asserted.
Some of the other Wisconsin companies represented at the event were Stoughton Trailers, engine maker Fairbanks Morse, Fincantieri Marinette Marine, and Walker Forge in Clintonville.
Wisconsin House member Mike Gallagher (R-Green Bay) chairs the Select Committee. He says it may help that other nations are also struggling with Chinese competition.
"We have a network of allies and partners that are all dealing with a common threat. If we have a common approach to pushing back against that threat, we can pool our resources and expertise. And even though the Chinese economy is massive, even though the country is massive, when you put America together with our allies and partners, we can't be beat," Gallagher maintained.
Gallagher says the U.S. also has plenty of innovators, willing to take risks to help their companies compete.
A United Steelworkers representative urged the House committee to promote more public and private efforts to train U.S. manufacturing workers so they can better compete globally.
An early criticism of the Select Committee on the CCP was that it would boost anti-Asian hate in the U.S. and may accelerate the deterioration of U.S.-China relations.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was in China this week talking with Chinese leaders.
