YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-17, is taking a stab at the big screen, as the five-term congressman from Niles is featured in a new documentary lashing out at unfair trade practices by China.
The film, "Death By China," opens Aug. 17 in California and Sept. 7 in theaters in Ohio, including the Regal 10 in the Austintown Plaza, according to the film's website. The documentary is narrated by actor Martin Sheen and is directed by Peter Navarro, based on the book of the same name Navarro co-authored with Greg Autry.
"Some of our workers at companies, literally their last act at the factory was to unbolt the machine and load it up to be shipped off to China," Ryan says in the film's trailer.
Ryan is among the most vocal critics in the U.S. House of Representatives of Chinese trade practices, alleging for years that the country has engaged in currency manipulation that has led to artificially low prices on products it ships to the United States.
Ryan was the principal author and sponsor of the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, a measure that would empower the U.S. Department of Commerce to levy tariffs and countervailing duties on products shipped from countries that are found to have artificially undervalued their currency. The bill passed the House 348-79 in September 2010 but was never passed by the U.S. Senate.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.