Bill Hickey has a long perspective on US manufacturing. From his office at the Chicago headquarters of Lapham-Hickey Steel – whose customers include John Deere and Caterpillar – he has watched the sector cope with many competitive threats in the 30 years since he inherited the business.

But in the past decade, he has seen swaths of US manufacturing wither in the face of Chinese competition. “We've seen our customers from auto-parts manufacturers to kitchen appliance-makers just disappear,” he says. “We're seeing the hollowing out of American manufacturing because the politicians don't get it.”

Mr Hickey sees China's currency policy as part of “a mercantilist plan” to gain market share in the US. “If their currency is 40 per cent below its real market value, they can undercut US producers and that's what's eroding the manufacturing base here,” he says. “That's their plan. Their government is basically subsidising that. The currency policy acts as a subsidy and an import tax.”