By Doug Cunningham

The AFL-CIO and the U.S. Business and Industry Council are co-hosting a conference on the U.S. trade crisis today in Washington, D.C. AFL-CIO Policy Director Thea Lee says a foreign trade deficit of more than $720 billion a year is unsustainable.

[Thea Lee] : “This isn't just labor, but it's also business and agriculture that are all being hurt by our trade policies."

Lee says the AFL-CIO has specific trade proposals to shake things up and attack the trade deficit.

[Lee 2] : “One is an across the board temporary import surcharge. That is a tariff. And it's actually legal under WTO rules. Under World Trade Organization rules, Article 12, provides when countries have a serious and chronic balance of payments problem they are allowed to use a trade surcharge to address that."

The AFL-CIO also wants the dollar devalued and a trade balancing system proposed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett that would match dollar values of exports and imports to restore a healthy trade balance.