Dan Griswold

Washington : Two trade policy experts allayed fears that the United States is exporting jobs, including white-collar ones, to India and China.

Dan Griswold, associate director of Cato’s Center for Trade Policy Studies, and Jeff Lande, vice president for information technology services at the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), spoke on why “misplaced” fears has created a wrong impression that the U.S. is losing manufacturing and even white-collar, information-technology jobs to low-wage workers in developing countries such as India and China.

The Hill briefing on Oct. 17, organized by the Cato Institute, the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, was about, ‘Are We Exporting Our Jobs to India and China?’

The two experts also called upon the U.S. government to invest in education and give tax breaks to American companies that invest in research and development facilities in the U.S.

They made it more than clear why the U.S. Congress should not consider proposals to restrict trade with China or make it more difficult for U.S. companies to outsource high-tech jobs to India or even consider amending laws to restrict hiring of foreign-born workers.

They particularly criticized a bill, pending in the U.S. Congress, that would exclude domestic manufacturers and producers from taxation of up to 10 percent and the ‘Buy America’ legislation. The provisions in this bill, sponsored by Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill), calls for increasing from 50 percent to 65 percent the amount of U.S. content required in major Department of Defense purchases.

Both experts said these fear were not justified because flexibility in the location of manufacturing and information jobs was extremely essential for American companies to remain competitive in a global economy.