<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=""><p style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><i class=""><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;" class="">The Financial Times – <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/70d329a7-0a1d-410e-956c-65893c1fd51c" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.ft.com/content/70d329a7-0a1d-410e-956c-65893c1fd51c&source=gmail&ust=1731691658345000&usg=AOvVaw0PDYk-fKi1q_W8PWYk1MhV" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class="">https://www.ft.com/content/<wbr class="">70d329a7-0a1d-410e-956c-<wbr class="">65893c1fd51c</a></span></i><i class=""><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;" class=""></span></i></p><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Letter: Bizarro World of free trade deals must be resisted by Democrats</span></b></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Melinda St. Louis | November 13, 2024</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;" class="">In Alan Beattie’s Bizarro World, Kamala Harris would have fared better in the election if her administration had inked a slew of new free trade agreements. In his Trade Secrets column (<a href="http://FT.com" class="">FT.com</a>, November 11), Beattie flatters my organisation, Public Citizen, by suggesting our supporters were able to “scare” the US government into pursuing a “worker-centered” path on trade — when it was the damaging record of neoliberal trade deals that drove the political shift in both parties. </span></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Americans have seen the consequences first-hand: a global race to the bottom for the cheapest labour and lowest environmental standards, contributing to the hollowing out of US manufacturing and increasing income inequality. As a result, Congress hasn’t approved a new free trade agreement since 2012. Countless exit polls showed that dissatisfaction with the economy was the chief motivating factor for voters. There were a number of factors working against Harris including inflation, a short campaign window and prejudice. One factor not on the list is “worker-centered trade policy”, because it was hardly mentioned throughout the campaign.</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;" class="">It is unreasonable to expect a wholly new model to be completed within only four years, especially with powerful corporate interests and politicians fighting this new approach at every turn. Still, important improvements have materialised thanks to “worker-centered trade”. The labour rights enforcement that Democrats fought for, and which Beattie dismisses, has directly benefited more than 36,000 Mexican workers via back pay, jobs reinstated, and other protections. And the Biden administration took bold action to ensure that Trump-era “digital trade” provisions would no longer undermine widely popular domestic efforts to rein in Big Tech.</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;" class="">The Harris campaign had a powerful story to tell about historic investments in manufacturing jobs and standing up for workers against corporate greed, but missed many opportunities to tell it to voters. In that void, Donald Trump was able to successfully con many Americans into believing his faux economic populism — again.</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;" class="">It would be preposterous for Democrats to revert to the very trade model that contributed to the economic damage felt by working people and which drove them towards right-wing populist rhetoric. Instead, they should win back the working class with a bold agenda clearly articulated — on money in politics, a living wage, healthcare as a human right, progressive taxation — and on trade.</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><i class=""><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Melinda St. Louis Director, Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, Washington, DC, US</span></i></p></body></html>