The U.S. trade deficit jumped in October, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday as Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman both testified before a trade panel to support Ohio manufacturing workers threatened by product dumping.

Exports dropped 3.6 percent to $180.5 billion. Imports fell 2.1 percent to $222.8 billion.

The trade gap with China increased to a record high of $29.5 billion in the month of October, which is expected to keep pressure on the Obama administration.

Tuesday, Portman and Brown testified before the U.S. International Trade Commission on behalf of 10,000 Ohio workers employed by Whirlpool Corp. The hearing was to determine the degree of injury from unfairly dumped imports of washing machines made by companies in South Korea and Mexico. Whirlpool employs 3,000 in Clyde making washing machines.

In Greenville, the company produces about 1.5 million Kitchen Aid mixers and blenders annually and is expanding.

“Workers at Whirlpool can compete with anyone in the world—as long as there’s a level playing field. But right now, our workers are being unfairly undermined by overseas competitors that cheat and break trade laws,” Brown said.

Portman said he wants the Commerce Department to not penalize companies for bringing jobs back to the U.S. Whirlpool is losing money and business to LG and Samsung, companies that are dumping their washers in the U.S. market, he said.

“When Whirlpool made the decision to invest more than $100 million in the plant in Clyde, Ohio, they were, in my view, entitled to assume that there would be a fair and competitive pricing environment.” Portman said.