This week, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) helped introduce the Documenting Adversarial Trade Aggression (DATA) Act, a bipartisan, bicameral bill that would establish a new Center in the Department of Commerce dedicated to collecting and consolidating data on China’s financial markets. The bill is led in the House by Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), who serves with Phillips on the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.

Inspired by the work of the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission, the DATA Act would at long last provide reliable information about the Chinese economy to American lawmakers and businesses. Under current conditions, the United States must rely on official economic data provided by the Chinese government – data that experts warn is often incomplete or manipulated.

“China has the second largest economy in the world and is our most prolific trading partner outside of North America,” said Rep. Phillips. “Yet Chinese economic data is unreliable and incomplete, meaning that American investors and lawmakers are too often left operating in the dark. By creating a national clearinghouse for accurate and comprehensive information about China’s economy, this bipartisan legislation would ensure transparency for our businesses at home - while holding our adversary accountable for their manipulative behavior.”

“At the core of our U.S.-led international system is a fair and free global market. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has proven that they cannot be trusted as they consistently seek to undermine the Free World,” Rep. Gonzalez said. “The economic data the CCP continues to circulate is unreliable and manipulated, hurting American investors and everyday business owners alike. This bipartisan and bicameral legislation will ensure the U.S. government and American investors have reliable data that can be used to measure and assess any risks linked to China’s economy.”

The DATA Act is led in the Senate by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and it is co-sponsored in the House by Reps. Haley Stevens (D-MI), Colin Allred (D-TX), French Hill (R-AR), Michael Waltz (R-FL), and Andy Barr (R-KY).

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