<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt;"><b class=""><font size="5" class="">AFL-CIO favors Tai staying at USTR if Harris wins</font></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">By: Doug Palmer, Politico Pro<br class="">
10/24/2024<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">The
largest U.S. labor organization wants U.S. Trade Representative
Katherine Tai to stay in her job if Vice President Kamala Harris becomes
president.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">“We
really think that Ambassador Tai’s leadership has been critical,” Cathy
Feingold, director of the AFL-CIO’s international department, said
in an interview. “We would support her continued leadership, as well as
expanding the staffing she has and the resources and the appropriations
that are needed to really implement this vision.”<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">The
statement comes as Kamala Harris has said little publicly about her
trade plans, except for criticizing former President Donald Trump’s
threat
to impose across-the-board tariffs as a tax on consumers. Feingold, who
has worked closely with the Biden administration, contributed to a
<a href="https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2f598026de21cad9580045441486f465933da933c9f046c87b476ec63b129a138b472edbfb48ef926995ae8e6892a06ebdb76d277e78859d" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs%3D2f598026de21cad9580045441486f465933da933c9f046c87b476ec63b129a138b472edbfb48ef926995ae8e6892a06ebdb76d277e78859d&source=gmail&ust=1729958743954000&usg=AOvVaw0bD5groT4gk0mVBRfclKs_" class="">
recent report from the Roosevelt Institute</a>, a left-leaning economic policy think tank, that also recommended keeping Tai on the job.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">Tai,
a former Hill staffer “has done a good job of balancing the competing
concerns and of bringing labor voices into trade policy making in
a way that frankly I find astounding and surprising, relative to past
administrations,” Todd Tucker, director of the trade and industrial
policy program at the Institute, said.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">A
Harris campaign spokesperson did not respond to queries about whether
Tai could continue to serve as USTR if Harris wins in November, and
Tai’s
own office also did not reply to questions about whether she would be
willing to stay.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">Feingold,
who spoke by phone from the swing state of Arizona, said organized
labor’s top priority right now is helping Harris defeat Trump. If
that happens, the group plans to actively engage with Harris during the
transition phase on who should fill key cabinet posts.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">One
advantage Tai offers is that she would not have to be confirmed again
by the Senate, freeing up resources that Harris could spend on other
nominees that Republicans could try to defeat or wound in the
confirmation process.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">It
would also keep a prominent Asian-American in the cabinet, helping
satisfy a key group eager for representation in top government
positions.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">Like
other cabinet positions, USTR is an indefinite appointment. That means
Tai can continue to serve until she resigns or is fired, although
she's unlikely to insist on staying if Harris wins and signals her
desire to put someone else in the job.
<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">It’s
also not unprecedented for a cabinet official to serve under two
different presidents: Robert Gates was nominated by George W. Bush, a
Republican,
to serve as defense secretary and stayed in the job for 18 months under <a href="https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2f598026de21cad9004b928c433860426ab586f68e12b3e24859b4ed2cf1d8387a2800d0552b7db130e54f01d5458da36920b3dd0fe72ade" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs%3D2f598026de21cad9004b928c433860426ab586f68e12b3e24859b4ed2cf1d8387a2800d0552b7db130e54f01d5458da36920b3dd0fe72ade&source=gmail&ust=1729958743954000&usg=AOvVaw3qT2hrfJ9KtlVMgjyUJXYH" class="">
Barack Obama, a Democrat</a>. <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">From
the AFL-CIO’s perspective, Tai has spent the past four years building a
“new path on trade” that it wants to see continued, Feingold said.
She praised Tai for meeting with more labor groups around the world than
any of her predecessors.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">Tai
“has done a great job putting workers at the center of trade policy”
and elevating the importance of climate concerns in trade policy, agreed
Jazz Lewis, legislative director at the Blue-Green Alliance, a coalition
representing labor and environmental groups.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">The
coalition itself does not have a position on whether Tai should remain
at USTR, but would like to see someone in the job that shares Tai’s
trade priorities and philosophy, Lewis said.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">Josh
Kagan, a former USTR assistant trade representative for labor affairs
now at the Kelley Drye law firm, said Tai deserves credit for combining
longstanding Democratic concerns about the importance of improving labor
rights among foreign suppliers with a Republican “fair competition”
approach given increased emphasis during the Trump administration.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">“I think Ambassador Tai embraced both … in a way that was somewhat unique,” Kagan said.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 6pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Aptos Display",sans-serif" class="">Kagan
served at USTR under both Trump and Biden. Both he and Lewis were
members of a commission of two dozen labor activists, trade policy
specialists,
researchers and academics who provided input for the Roosevelt Institute
report.</span></p></div><br class=""><div class="">
Arthur Stamoulis<br class="">Citizens Trade Campaign<br class="">(202) 494-8826<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">
</div>
<br class=""></body></html>