Levin go after Amway Dick on China trade

Mlive.com's Printer-Friendly Page AP INTERVIEW: Levin critical of DeVos on China trade 10/9/2006, 4:58 p.m. ET By KEN THOMAS The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Carl Levin says the conditions Amway Corp. agreed to so it could sell products in China undermined work by Michigan lawmakers to tear down trade barriers there against U.S.-made goods. Levin, a Detroit Democrat, told the Associated Press in a recent interview that Amway acquiesced to discrimination against U.S. products by the Chinese government and restrictions on selling U.S.-made goods on the Chinese market. He takes exception to comments made by Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos that, while he was Amway president from 1993-2002, he "competed in China and won." The direct-sales company invested $200 million in China to build a factory there because China would allow Amway to sell only goods that were made there. Levin said he was troubled by DeVos' address to the state Republican party convention in late August when the businessman said "there is only one candidate in this race who has ever run a manufacturing company. There is only one candidate in this race who has competed in China and won." Said Levin: "That characterization to me is so off the mark, runs so contrary to what we have to do, what we need to do, to reduce this trade imbalance. "That's not competing and winning for Michigan," he said. China has played a starring role in the campaign as DeVos and Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm have challenged each other on who would best revitalize the state's struggling economy, the leading issue for most voters. DeVos' campaign has said no Michigan jobs were moved to China on the businessman's watch, although 1,400 jobs were eliminated in Ada under DeVos as part of a restructuring. No blue-collar workers lost their jobs, DeVos has said. His campaign has noted that Amway and its parent company, Alticor Inc., invested $700 million in its Michigan facilities at the same time. Campaign spokesman John Truscott said DeVos has said it's important that U.S. companies compete in China to meet the demand there for American products. Truscott said American competition in China would help eventually bring down the barriers. "This is a company that Dick led into the international marketplace and they have been extremely successful, but yet they do all of their manufacturing in Michigan," Truscott said. "It's been a good thing for Michigan and the company." Granholm and the state Democratic Party have run ads noting that DeVos cut jobs in Michigan while investing in China and creating thousands of jobs there. DeVos has called the criticism "the lowest form of politics." "Not one Michigan job went to China. Not one," DeVos said in a Web log last month. "And to suggest otherwise is to do a tremendous disservice to the 4,000 jobs that we saved in west Michigan as a result of expanding into the international marketplace." Levin said he recognized that not "any one company can knock the barriers down. But when a candidate for governor calls that competing and winning, he is undermining the effort to knock down these barriers." The U.S. has a record $202 billion trade deficit with China and critics say China's currency is undervalued by up to 40 percent, making Chinese goods cheaper for American consumers and U.S. products more expensive in China. Michigan lawmakers also have criticized the country's record on intellectual property rights, accusing it of leading to billions in dollars in lost revenue because of counterfeit auto parts. ___ On the Net: Granholm campaign: http://www.granholmforgov.com/ U.S. Sen. Carl Levin: http://levin.senate.gov/ It had the link to the Amway Dick web site but F that I ain't putting that on here.