Stabenow for Senate

Michael “Chet” Chetcuti:

Michael “Chet” Chetcuti is the CEO of Quality Metalcraft and American Expedition Vehicles (AEV), Michigan businesses specializing in aftermarket auto parts. Chet’s company, which has more than 500 employees, has been impacted by counterfeiters in China and as a result has lost a significant amount of business.
 
AEV, Manufacturing in Michigan:

AEV’s product line of aftermarket Jeep parts, including bumpers, hoods, and suspension lifts, took over a decade and thousands of man-hours to develop. The manufacturing company has worked closely with Jeep, their designs have been incorporated into Jeep concept vehicles, and many of AEV’s parts are sold through Jeep dealerships.
 
AEV and Counterfeiters in China:

Three years ago, China was a major export market for the company’s parts, until fakes started showing up back in the United States and in stores across China.
 
AEV was finding fake products ripped off so extensively that the counterfeit parts had the identification numbers of AEV's parts imprinted right into them. The counterfeiters were even printing out their PDF instruction manuals off the AEV website and putting them in the boxes with the fake parts.
 
Because of this illegal activity, American Expedition Vehicles no longer exports its parts to China--impacting their bottom line and ability to create jobs in Michigan.
 
The Effect of Illegal Trade Practices:

When countries engage in illegal trade practices like patent and technology theft and currency manipulations, their companies get an anti-competitive advantage and rob hard-working business owners of the opportunity to compete effectively, both at home and abroad. Senator Stabenow has consistently worked across the aisle to make sure that the United States government has the tools to find, crack-down, and prevent trade violations.
 
Senator Stabenow’s American Competitiveness Plan:

Stabenow has a long-standing record on this issue.  Her comprehensive American Competitiveness Plan targets other countries’ trade violations in a variety of ways. Her plan will ensure U.S. businesses can become more globally competitive and create jobs in America. As Debbie says, “We want to export our products, not our jobs.” Her plan is focused on:

• Cracking down on China’s illegal currency manipulation, which artificially makes their products as much as 30% cheaper than American products. Legislation to create new policies to combat currency manipulation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate last year (although the GOP-controlled House never brought the bill up for a vote). Estimates suggest stopping China's illegal currency manipulation could help spur the creation of up to 1.6 million American jobs, while stopping manipulation in all countries could create as many as 2.25 million jobs.

• Creating a trade enforcement unit to hold countries that violate trade laws accountable. After Senator Stabenow introduced her legislation, President Obama created a trade enforcement unit earlier this year through executive order to seek out and take action against serious illegal trade practices.

• Strengthening penalties for counterfeiting and technology theft. Senator Stabenow’s plan includes several measures that would fight counterfeiting including a new "three strikes and you're out" law aimed at identifying and stopping foreign importers who are dumping fake products in American markets. The plan also includes new fines, a "watch list" of previous violators, and more resources for customs agents to focus on intellectual property theft.

• Barring the U.S. government from spending taxpayer dollars on Chinese goods as long as China’s government refuses to purchase goods from American businesses.

 
Senator Stabenow also authored the Bring Jobs Home Act, a bill that would end tax breaks for companies that send American jobs overseas and use those savings to instead cut taxes for companies that move jobs back to America (with a tax credit of up to 20% the cost of moving jobs home).