China may be gaining on the United States in terms of trade and debt, but Pennsylvania could… China may be gaining on the United States in terms of trade and debt, but Pennsylvania could hold the key to catching up with the booming Chinese economy.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Pennsylvania, visited Pitt yesterday to moderate a discussion in the Barco Law Building on the implications of U.S.-China relations for Pennsylvania.

Casey explained how valuable the Chinese market is to U.S. exporters, especially those in Pittsburgh.

China is the third largest export market for Pennsylvania.

But as of 2007, the U.S. trade deficit with China overtook the $250 billion mark.

Casey said he disapproved of the Washington politicians “bashing China” when they hold the keys to “our economy, our workers, our market, our future.”

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato also stopped by to say a few words. Onorato visited Beijing in April 2007 to tour its new airport.

He noticed how large it was and observed that many parts of its features were made “right here in West Mifflin,” he said.

Onorato listed the major Pittsburgh companies with contracts in China: PPG, Siemens and Westinghouse are a few.

Onorato said he signed a letter of intent for Pittsburgh International Airport to work with China in operating and accessing certain products.

“We as leaders need to stand up and take action,” Onorato said. “The global economy is here and we need to get in it and get engaged.”

A board of experts on the subject was there to field questions.

It included economics professor Thomas Rawski, political science professor William Keller, labor expert Sasha Gong and Pitt student Jeffrey Ernsthausen.

Rawski pointed out that China’s rapid growth in the past 30 years has been a “global phenomenon.”

He said the next presidential administration must deal with long-term solutions to the present economic difficulties.

“Naturally, when there are big changes in a national economy there will be frictions,” Rawski said.

He admonished the Clinton and Bush administrations, both of whom he voted for, for acting like a “fire department,” instead of trying long-term economic solutions.

Ernsthausen emphasized the fact that from 1997 to 2007 China’s industry quadrupled in size and is now second in the world to the United States.

While Pittsburgh doesn’t have the giant steel industry it once did, it is still one of the nation’s major producers of goods.

So now that China’s industry has enlarged, where will they go for equipment? To Pennsylvania, Casey said.

He said that U.S. debt to China is its second highest, Japan being its first. “That puts us at a disadvantage,” he said, “and is all the more reason why we need to foster exports to China.”

Casey and the panel advised Pitt students to do their part to help the United States get a leg up on China by becoming engineers.

From 2006 to 2007 the United States produced 60,000 engineers while China produced more than 1 million.

He pointed out the gap between what types of students the schools are producing and what the market needs.

“We have to encourage our young people to go into the sciences: science, math and engineering,” he said.

Keller agreed and added that as industry becomes more technical, “that’s where the competition will be, in the sciences.”

Casey recognized that “we’re not going to resolve our issues and grievances for a long time” but also called for a “need to get it right.”