China illegally subsidizes its export industries and unlawfully manipulates its currency. That kills U.S. industry and destroys U.S. jobs. On June 19, China announced it would allow its currency value to rise on international markets. And then it didn’t. That’s flipping the bird at America. Before China’s June 19 promise, U.S. Senators and Congressmen proposed legislation that would force the U.S. Treasury Department to even the score with China. Pass the legislation. It’s time for America to flip the bird back.

In the trade clash between China and America, the Asian giant has gravely wounded the United States. China knows it. U.S. voters of all political stripes know it. But too many American politicians are in denial. Their deliberate blindness, and resulting inaction, has enabled Chinese market intervention to continue killing American manufacturing.

China and America decline to acknowledge what everyone else knows: China suppresses the value of its currency to gain a trade advantage over America. This is costing America untold numbers of manufacturers and millions of jobs. The U.S. Treasury Department, which is required by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 to name foreign currency manipulators in bi-annual reports, must label China in its April 15 account, then sanction China if it doesn’t begin balancing its currency.

Cross-posted at River Twice Research.

In his current Asian trip, President Obama visits Japan, then addresses a forum of leaders in Singapore, and eventually ends up in Seoul to discuss nukes and North Korea. But make no mistake, the axis of this week is the time Obama will spend in China, which has catapulted to the forefront of international affairs and is on its way to joining the United States as the alpha and omega of the global economic system.