Workers’ rights have to be part of any trade deal — For trade to work for workers and our communities, workers’ rights must be incorporated into the agreement, with strong, swift enforcement mechanisms.
Coronavirus confirms manufacturing is essential — The continuous shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), respirators, and ventilators during the pandemic drives home the point that manufacturing production, engineering and R&D is essential to America’s national security. Going forward, U.S. trade policy must ensure America maintains and re-establishes core manufacturing industries.
Trade policy is only one tool in America’s industrial policy — Trade policy doesn’t occur in a vacuum, and to realize the best results from any trade agreement or tariff, it is imperative that other parts of our industrial policy, like tax, labor laws, and R&D spending, point in the same direction. This in part explains why recent steel and aluminum tariffs have not stopped the continued shuttering of America’s steel mills.
Trade deficits — Our members who work in the agricultural implement industry have been hit hard by trade decisions in recent years that have contributed to drops in sales. While it may be encouraging to see new and different action taken on our trade policy, the approach has often allowed corporate special interests to game negotiations, and worse still, it hasn’t reduced the U.S. trade deficit with the world. In 2019, the U.S. overall goods and service trade deficit was 14% higher than it was in 2016.
Mexico — The recently renegotiated NAFTA, renamed the USMCA, will not bring back the hundred of thousands of good U.S. manufacturing jobs that have been lost. At best, it will only stem the tide of outsourcing. Throughout negotiations, the UAW and pro-labor House and Senate Democrats fought for real labor reform and enforcement in Mexico. Now that the agreement has gone into force, the real work starts. The U.S. must use the enforcement mechanisms in the USMCA to ensure Mexico implements its labor reforms, breaking up phony unions and their corporate protection contracts, allowing workers’ rights and independent unions to flourish.
China — After years of escalating tariffs, the U.S. and China reached a modest agreement in which China agreed to purchase more U.S. agricultural goods and reform some of its unfair trade practices. Workers’ rights were not even part of the negotiations. China continues to deploy unfair trade practices. To date, China has been not meeting their agricultural purchases, and has done little in terms of reform.
Japan — A “Stage One” agreement with Japan has been implemented that includes U.S. tariff cuts on machine tools, fasteners, steam turbines, bicycles and parts, and musical instruments. The agreement did nothing to crack down on Japan’s unfair trade practices. The UAW remains concerned that such trade policies come at expense of U.S. workers and manufacturing which could ultimately increase the U.S. auto trade deficit and hurt the U.S. domestic auto industry.