[CTC] AFL-CIO chief Trumka urges Biden to take 'pause' on new trade deals

[Arthur Stamoulis]

AFL-CIO chief Trumka urges Biden to take 'pause' on new trade deals
By Doug Palmer, Politico Pro 
1/12/2021
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on Tuesday called on President-elect Joe Biden to maintain President Donald Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum until a solution is found to address global excess capacity, hold firm on China tariffs while working with allies to put more pressure on Beijing and refrain from negotiating new trade agreements for the time being.
"The Biden administration can really reset our trade policy from one that promotes the narrow interests of the corporate elite to one that promotes broadly shared prosperity for workers," Trumka told reporters during a conference call to discuss the AFL-CIO's priorities for the coming year.
Hit pause on trade deals: "We believe that we ought to hit the pause button for a while on negotiating new trade deals, until major new domestic investments are made in infrastructure and education and training and manufacturing," Trumka said.
Biden has already said that he does not intend to complete any new trade agreements until the United States has made the necessary investments to rebuild the U.S. economy. But Trumka's comments put pressure on Biden to maintain that course, despite whatever pressure he gets from U.S. business and foreign governments to negotiate new trade deals.
It could particularly impact both the United Kingdom and Kenya, which have already started free trade talks with the United States during the Trump administration.
Negotiate enforceable solution to steel overcapacity: While Trumka was critical of Trump's overall policies and called for his removal from office in light of last week's storming of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, he defended the tariffs that Trump has imposed on steel and aluminum imports to protect national security.
Those should not be removed "until a long-term enforceable solution is in place" to deal with Chinese government subsidies that have led to massive steel overcapacity in that country, he said.
Work with allies on China: Trumka also said he did not think that Biden should remove the tariffs that Trump has imposed on more than $350 billion worth of Chinese goods. But he urged the incoming president to work more closely with allies to take on China's government subsidies, predatory pricing practices and troubling currency and human rights practices.
"The Trump administration never understood that you could not take China on alone, that it had to be with all of our allies," Trumka said.
Enforce USMCA labor provisions: Trumka said the AFL-CIO will "very quickly" after the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration file the first-ever formal labor complaint against Mexico under the terms of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
"I think you see it right after the new administration come in. We had some real resistance from the old administration on the thing and we became worried that they would tank it," Trumka said. "And the pandemic made it more difficult to get facts, supporting facts, than we had originally anticipated."
Trumka said in September <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-usmca-labor/afl-cio-chief-says-union-to-file-labor-complaint-under-usmca-this-month-idUSKBN25U350> that the AFL-CIO planned to file its case in the coming weeks, but it never materialized.
He told reporters Tuesday that the AFL-CIO faced "passive-aggressive" resistance from the Trump administration to bringing the case. "They 'yessed' us to death," he said.

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826




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