<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=""><a href="https://usw.org/press-release/usw-tariffs-must-be-paired-with-wider-trade-policy-reform/" class="">https://usw.org/press-release/usw-tariffs-must-be-paired-with-wider-trade-policy-reform/</a> </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="fl-module fl-module-fl-post-info fl-node-f9ramw4hcbyq" data-node="f9ramw4hcbyq" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7); font-family: Inter, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div class="fl-module-content fl-node-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><span class="fl-post-info-date" style="box-sizing: border-box;">April 2, 2025</span></div></div><div class="fl-module fl-node-07p2aogzfltw fl-module-heading" data-node="07p2aogzfltw" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7); font-family: Inter, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div class="fl-module-content fl-node-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><h1 class="fl-heading" style="color: var(--fl-global-blue); font-size: 3.75rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;"><span class="fl-heading-text" style="box-sizing: border-box;">USW: Tariffs Must be Paired with Wider Trade Policy Reform</span></h1></div></div><div class="fl-node-enw7ab2zx3uv EditorContent fl-module-rich-text fl-module" data-node="enw7ab2zx3uv" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7); font-family: Inter, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div class="fl-module-content fl-node-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="fl-rich-text" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="margin-top: 0rem; margin-bottom: 0rem; box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Contact</strong>: Jess Kamm Broomell, <a href="mailto:jkamm@usw.org" style="text-underline-offset: 2px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7);" class="">jkamm@usw.org</a>, 412-562-2444</div><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 0rem; box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">(Pittsburgh)</strong> – <em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">United Steelworkers (USW) International President <a href="https://usw.org/leadership/david-mccall/" style="text-underline-offset: 2px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7);" class="">David McCall</a> issued the following statement in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement that his administration will implement a wide array of tariffs:</em></p><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 0rem; box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“Our union has been fighting on the front lines for fair trade for decades as flawed trade agreements and other policies robbed workers of their jobs and deprived our nation of critical capabilities across key sectors. </p><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 0rem; box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“Used strategically, tariffs are a crucial means of reining in bad actors who view access to the U.S. market as a right, not a privilege. Today’s announcement helps send the message to our trading partners that they must earn that right.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 0rem; box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“Tariffs, however, are only one of the many tools we need to promote fair trade and reverse course on outsourcing and offshoring jobs.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 0rem; box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“First and foremost, we must ensure our trade policy targets cheaters rather than trusted economic allies like Canada. We should be working to build relationships – not barriers – with partners who have proven their commitment to joining us in tackling global overcapacity.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 0rem; box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“Tariffs must also be paired with policies that will increase domestic production and jobs, like strategic investments, strong procurement standards, and labor laws that boost workers’ access to labor unions. The administration must also take steps to prevent companies from using tariffs as an excuse to price-gouge consumers.</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 0rem; box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“We welcome the administration’s commitment to fair trade and encourage President Trump to consider a broader strategy that will level the playing field and promote widespread economic growth.”</p><p style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 0rem; box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">The </em><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><a href="https://usw.org/press-release/usw-tariffs-must-be-paired-with-wider-trade-policy-reform/usw.org" style="text-underline-offset: 2px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7);" class=""><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">USW</em></a></em><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> represents 850,000 workers employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in health care, public sector, higher education, tech and service occupations.</em><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""></em></p><p class="has-text-align-center" style="margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 0rem; box-sizing: border-box;">###</p></div></div></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">=====</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.goiam.org/news/imail/iam-union-u-s-canadian-workers-still-waiting-to-have-voice-in-tariff-trade-policy/" class="">https://www.goiam.org/news/imail/iam-union-u-s-canadian-workers-still-waiting-to-have-voice-in-tariff-trade-policy/</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="font-style: normal; font-size: 36px;" class=""><b class="">IAM Union: U.S., Canadian Workers Still Waiting to Have Voice in Tariff, Trade Policy</b></span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" class="">WASHINGTON, April 2, 2025</span> – Brian Bryant, International President of the IAM Union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers), representing 600,000 workers, and David Chartrand, IAM Canadian General Vice President, issued a statement on President Trump’s tariffs announcement: </p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4;" class="">“We must confront the legacy of trade policies and tariff rollouts that treat workers as pawns. Today’s tariffs announcement will erode relationships and diminish human dignity and respect for workers across North America. </p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4;" class="">“Imposing tariffs on Canada would be like cutting off our nose to spite our face. </p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4;" class="">“The IAM Union will continue to speak out against this short-sighted trade war and fight for a comprehensive, long-term strategy that strengthens manufacturing and prioritizes the interests of U.S. and Canadian workers.” </p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" class="">The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is one of North America’s largest and most diverse industrial trade unions, representing approximately 600,000 active and retired members in the aerospace, defense, airlines, railroad, transit, healthcare, automotive, and other industries.</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" class=""> </span></p></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">=====</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.goiam.org/news/imail/trump-tariffs-on-canada-jeopardize-aerospace-defense-and-manufacturing-sectors-while-threatening-national-security/" class="">https://www.goiam.org/news/imail/trump-tariffs-on-canada-jeopardize-aerospace-defense-and-manufacturing-sectors-while-threatening-national-security/</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b style="font-size: 36px;" class="">Trump Tariffs on Canada Jeopardize Aerospace, Defense, and Manufacturing Sectors While Threatening National Security</b></div><div class=""><b style="font-size: 36px;" class=""><br class=""></b></div><div class=""><b style="font-size: 36px;" class="">April 1, 2025</b></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4;" class="">Brian Bryant, International President of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), representing 600,000 workers, and David Chartrand, IAM Canadian General Vice President, today issued a strong rebuke of President Trump’s tariffs, warning of severe economic consequences and job losses across the United States and Canada:</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4;" class="">“President Trump’s scatter-shot tariffs are a direct assault on American and Canadian workers. They will destabilize critical sectors like aerospace and manufacturing, jeopardizing hundreds of thousands of jobs and undermining national security.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4;" class="">“These tariffs will not bring our jobs home. They will raise prices on everything. They will wreck our supply chains on both sides of the border. And they will put our members’ jobs at risk.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4;" class="">“For decades, we have witnessed the erosion of millions of well-paying, high-skilled U.S. and Canadian jobs as corporations outsourced production to countries with lax labor standards. The administration’s trade policies will accelerate this decline, outsourcing thousands of IAM Union aerospace and defense jobs into low-wage positions. </p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4;" class="">“We cannot stand idly by while reckless policies destroy our supply chains, destabilize economies, and imperil the livelihoods of tens of thousands of workers, including over 100,000 aerospace workers across both nations. This administration’s isolationist approach ignores the interconnected nature of the U.S. and Canadian economies and national security.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4;" class="">“Our union continues to emphasize the urgent need for a collaborative and strategic approach to tariffs. This approach must involve government, business, and labor unions and develop a comprehensive strategy that strengthens and expands critical sectors in the U.S. and Canada. </p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4;" class="">“Workers must be part of the solution to ensure that trade policies benefit our communities, not multinational corporations seeking to exploit cheap labor abroad.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4;" class="">“The IAM Union pledges to fight against these harmful tariffs, vowing to prevent a repeat of past trade failures that resulted in widespread economic devastation and increased risks to national security.</p></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">=====</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Press Contact: </span></strong><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Jimmy Wyderko, <a href="mailto:jwyderko@economicliberties.us" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class="">jwyderko@economicliberties.us</a> <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="font-size: 15pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Tariffs Can Be a Vital Tool to Rebalance U.S. Trade, but Trump Must Act Immediately to Stop Corporations from Using New Tariffs as Cover to Price-Gouge</span></strong><span style="font-size: 15pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Washington, D.C. – </span></span><em class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Today, as the Trump administration announced its tariffs plan, American Economic Liberties Project’s <b class="">Rethink Trade Director, Lori Wallach</b>, released this statement</span></em><span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">:</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">“The businesses that profiteered from our old broken trade system should pay for the necessary transition to more balanced trade, not American workers and consumers. President Trump must take immediate action to stop corporations from using the pretext of these tariffs to price-gouge the very Americans already slammed by decades of bad trade policy and corporate greed.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Trump’s announcement goes much broader, but tariffs against mercantilist countries like China, Germany, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan to counter systemic trade abuses can help restore America’s capacity to produce more of the critical products needed for American families to be healthy and safe and for our country to be more resilient and secure. But to deliver more American production and good jobs, the goal must be to balance trade, not equalize tariff rates, and tariffs must be consistent. Tariffs must be accompanied by other industrial policies like tax credits to build demand for U.S.-made goods, incentives for investment in new production capacity and bans on stock buybacks, and easier union formation so gains go to wages, not just profits.”</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">BACKGROUND:</span></strong><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Since 1975, the United States has had a trade deficit every year, which has deindustrialized the country and increased income inequality as economic theory would predict.</span></span><strong class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Read our </span></strong><span class="m_-5029917214209055328attrlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https:/link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.OMdVzV-2FN-2FjMvjjQtI3xB4ks3-2Finx4DQ3WxC7rutwIVYWtLFQe0D1f-2FasIHfPzhv3mx0Ong3vGwgOZCLrfDl3lc4Gx3FNBGdSbjO8NclKZmMNRK9LDPfu4uMki-2BJpLV82l3kkes-2FKu1UWMdlQgPPtBvK7F-2Bq6ZzYgavFkSD8R8xpHHiXbVUxa3-2FEVCX8GQGMMKupvVjsMBMZgy9e3Y0D51skiRKBNYNQStzpmRPwiWJD5MlOdwHi6bD2xlonPnWSp9wQQGlPAj9sgjLNlvGdrQFZYqHvTwR1fQdKreb0owXfze5iRx-2BYdB3h4gzQAvXtgTP-2BF6m1pKMsgKuEk6FEUBXh0fi-2FPfKGHwXUPchH1AzX5Z75egSlyrTVYMvOUU98KejIq7fuIgokT4hHRgwiju1uN70-2F25IkCEKU7Q7rKcFq-2Fwq7sh63HeP567YPFtvY00ouT_oM7GKyPgU6VXhmS-2BmIhmKvQCQuZs8aRfSyghYq8AWldu-2FXcyce3RbPHGpNa-2BGY0qzWnY0eSjL0GO9UyxVT4W2EnK53fa7RMJpaxShI-2B66uv8g70OlcJ36NWz3TfQ30H3gzuifwmzA-2FPadzCi0eOa4xaT8FeiTAeMbtjDknR5ebCFqMz7ZxabTHSWDBLQ-2FrOMZmmA11TORq-2BLW0BXuO23IzJ4OPG1inG2SSBkGqz-2F8as4KvaS-2FyWFRvZCCh5qhRLVqkF5uEbznCsu-2B9sAjcoukbxRP7i2nudYKFwzqSazxD2Ba2Sk66SpulQJw-2BFQArB3enVNfjyk7X-2BJhEpGHQJ3vk2td9stZ8Lf6eK8ciWGeRVBMzWkDNnn9Ap9Z6rO6Wm1___.YzJ1OmFlbHBlY29ub21pY2xpYmVydGllczpjOm86M2QzZGI1MTRhNDQ1ZDk5YzBjOWQzODgyZDdkZDAyMzI6Nzo1ZjM1OjE2NTUzM2RhNzU4YTExZmY2OTc0ZjA5MjgyNzE1YWQ1YWYyMmNmNWQwYjBhZmE2NzY1NTM2MmI1ZTg0NjE2OTQ6aDpUOkY" title="Protected by Check Point: https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.OMdVzV-2FN-2FjMvjjQtI3xB4ks3-2Finx4DQ3WxC7rutwIVYWtLFQe0D1f-2FasIHfPzhv3mx0Ong3vGwgOZCLrfDl3lc4Gx3FNBGdSbjO8NclKZmMNRK9LDPfu4uMki-2BJpLV82l3kkes-2FKu1UWMdlQgPPtBvK7F-2Bq6" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https:/link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn%3Du001.OMdVzV-2FN-2FjMvjjQtI3xB4ks3-2Finx4DQ3WxC7rutwIVYWtLFQe0D1f-2FasIHfPzhv3mx0Ong3vGwgOZCLrfDl3lc4Gx3FNBGdSbjO8NclKZmMNRK9LDPfu4uMki-2BJpLV82l3kkes-2FKu1UWMdlQgPPtBvK7F-2Bq6ZzYgavFkSD8R8xpHHiXbVUxa3-2FEVCX8GQGMMKupvVjsMBMZgy9e3Y0D51skiRKBNYNQStzpmRPwiWJD5MlOdwHi6bD2xlonPnWSp9wQQGlPAj9sgjLNlvGdrQFZYqHvTwR1fQdKreb0owXfze5iRx-2BYdB3h4gzQAvXtgTP-2BF6m1pKMsgKuEk6FEUBXh0fi-2FPfKGHwXUPchH1AzX5Z75egSlyrTVYMvOUU98KejIq7fuIgokT4hHRgwiju1uN70-2F25IkCEKU7Q7rKcFq-2Fwq7sh63HeP567YPFtvY00ouT_oM7GKyPgU6VXhmS-2BmIhmKvQCQuZs8aRfSyghYq8AWldu-2FXcyce3RbPHGpNa-2BGY0qzWnY0eSjL0GO9UyxVT4W2EnK53fa7RMJpaxShI-2B66uv8g70OlcJ36NWz3TfQ30H3gzuifwmzA-2FPadzCi0eOa4xaT8FeiTAeMbtjDknR5ebCFqMz7ZxabTHSWDBLQ-2FrOMZmmA11TORq-2BLW0BXuO23IzJ4OPG1inG2SSBkGqz-2F8as4KvaS-2FyWFRvZCCh5qhRLVqkF5uEbznCsu-2B9sAjcoukbxRP7i2nudYKFwzqSazxD2Ba2Sk66SpulQJw-2BFQArB3enVNfjyk7X-2BJhEpGHQJ3vk2td9stZ8Lf6eK8ciWGeRVBMzWkDNnn9Ap9Z6rO6Wm1___.YzJ1OmFlbHBlY29ub21pY2xpYmVydGllczpjOm86M2QzZGI1MTRhNDQ1ZDk5YzBjOWQzODgyZDdkZDAyMzI6Nzo1ZjM1OjE2NTUzM2RhNzU4YTExZmY2OTc0ZjA5MjgyNzE1YWQ1YWYyMmNmNWQwYjBhZmE2NzY1NTM2MmI1ZTg0NjE2OTQ6aDpUOkY&source=gmail&ust=1744117564535000&usg=AOvVaw0_eZAxpghZM34P3itj35GO" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><strong class="">memo here</strong></a></span></span><span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> on how tariffs can help rebalance trade and which countries have chronic deficits and surpluses</span></span><strong class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">.</span></strong><span style="font-size: 5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="font-size: 5pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""> </span></strong><span style="font-size: 5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Price gouging is when corporations use a shock as an excuse to jack up prices over and above their rising costs. To ensure corporations do not use the cover of tariffs to further raise prices on Americans, President Trump should call on the FTC to:</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;" class=""><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Use its authority under FTC Act Section 6(b) to require large corporations to report their costs to the FTC, so that the FTC can expose when they are jacking up prices over and above rising costs.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Use its authority over</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> <span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z">“unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce”</span> <span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z">(UDAP) to investigate and prosecute any price gouging that occurs.</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></li></ul><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Many states already use their</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> <span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z">“mini-FTC Act” unfair or deceptive acts and practices authorities to address price gouging. The FTC should similarly use every tool it has to stop price gouging.</span></span><span style="font-size: 5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""> </span></strong><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Read Wallach’s recent pieces on tariffs and balanced trade in </span></strong><span class="m_-5029917214209055328attrlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https:/link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.OMdVzV-2FN-2FjMvjjQtI3xB4ks3-2Finx4DQ3WxC7rutwIVYWtLFQe0D1f-2FasIHfPzhv3kJpu8UKDi8-2FvFWxHC1udmCgbPRhoFeKNDPJRiIoCvR64tcxQkI-2B0vEqSnIRawPLebCFMo9tFO0E63FPg25AvIkamAWg1qj-2FqGnGqvgppiDIfZGoEc2PdlOJRYuECq5d4J-2BvjTPCf6muxrJf0aR7Z57x1Pmy-2BPPe-2F-2BppMxNXkCvztSXhqaEqcBHNOuhYRr5OQn0d5IOm2WBm30ljxSk4V3He2lAt8cSJaIjot8dCLt9FyBDjWnE1V8zM6rzjNB-2FbJkELwOKZPvPM0cP48CFz3Pxp78bh10RGD9K1f2aTjs6XfOqheuZFIjgStoif1cqqZeMUiCfLZlflhlu8rccvEE8RIenYUoDtB8bG8znQTj6LlyeZpc1c1dRTuqEqY9zukckmaZtSU-2FLQ4UXzDHY3pqE8BPcPrZHZvWCIlOFGsYEprQt5uZP6mNvAj587qdUNbl4ujnsOFJ-2BofsjsiIhDdV9DX4PhOIC2CUMztaIe2-2B3uhLg-2B9jE-2BMvIonW4MaRNRlVqBN-2ByJP4L5wbJE0n1D5dtz4mVxrlNTKBA3Wk0oQjioJpIBIeig7w0Y9NqkmbC58GP-2B9T9JGxn4lf7i18hzL-2B0wy5azBnDT5vdiHH13zr2PYOk-2FkpEyB4G8m1CbT6no0Cb-2B-2BJh528XJZ129CD7kVdvZrzOFwwvehWRCiLAjveVt3-2BM67uNvmfwLX3rpAEwK4zpZmjEEj6mLoV8W-2BRUPAvYusAxpAjEEomtHkWRAV-2FDxpyB7RuzGlQ7w67H4viDOxPgED4-2FhTh696euEYUKIlM-2BpVVvpuY-2F4mTun0NjB2sTwuphuauElqjgwEphwa1jW7T6TW25MIS9P8W4ac2j-2BuoloGfcLwgEgHDw0pdkx8Y-2Beaq3Eq5nGgXlzTjnOvqHCCxhoGmUnKbkjC6oXvGNUQ0eexhDEhggtHSie-2FRsxapY6YnzYPbOcwbP7LC5SqQ08mTC3YvbVISOh25Zzs1ZcgPzFH1X1WSMPytjnwZVg44ZGyWNaeI6Ad8LagWU1C2STBDAHbG2iv5jSfT8Quwyi0cp-2BXMB0e2duJ-2Fq7-2BMMHfD-2BQ-3DfDES_oM7GKyPgU6VXhmS-2BmIhmKvQCQuZs8aRfSyghYq8AWldu-2FXcyce3RbPHGpNa-2BGY0qzWnY0eSjL0GO9UyxVT4W2EnK53fa7RMJpaxShI-2B66uv8g70OlcJ36NWz3TfQ30H3gzuifwmzA-2FPadzCi0eOa4xaT8FeiTAeMbtjDknR5ebCFqMz7ZxabTHSWDBLQ-2FrOMZmmA11TORq-2BLW0BXuO23IzJ4OPG1inG2SSBkGqz-2F8asOjHYxTiKBC8smkd9YhsvaqXil2FLMsaznD1j4CsBfj8FqOYLaOz7dkZ-2FeRXlPZxG6yAUWYpFY7wtFcAvWxKQUdYWuyct4V97YcwCuYWT-2FheSIgIYxdpSpj3dmfWeEpR1uHjjA-2BHrAwOp1npGgouto___.YzJ1OmFlbHBlY29ub21pY2xpYmVydGllczpjOm86M2QzZGI1MTRhNDQ1ZDk5YzBjOWQzODgyZDdkZDAyMzI6NzplNGE2OmI5ZDMzODI5Nzg1YTliZjllYTg3ZTM2Mzc3YjdjYmE3NGM4Mjg0ZDk0OGYyMTllMjA5MjQ2NTVhYmVjNzJmZTc6aDpUOkY" title="Protected by Check Point: https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.OMdVzV-2FN-2FjMvjjQtI3xB4ks3-2Finx4DQ3WxC7rutwIVYWtLFQe0D1f-2FasIHfPzhv3kJpu8UKDi8-2FvFWxHC1udmCgbPRhoFeKNDPJRiIoCvR64tcxQkI-2B0vEqSnIRawPLebCFMo9tFO0E63FPg25AvIkamAWg1qj" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><em class=""><b class="">The American Prospect</b></em></a></span></span><strong class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""> and </span></strong><span class="m_-5029917214209055328attrlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><a href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.OMdVzV-2FN-2FjMvjjQtI3xB4ks3-2Finx4DQ3WxC7rutwIVYWtLFQe0D1f-2FasIHfPzhv3kJpu8UKDi8-2FvFWxHC1udmCgbPRhoFeKNDPJRiIoCvR64tcxQkI-2B0vEqSnIRawPLebCFMo9tFO0E63FPg25AvIkamAWg1qj-2FqGnGqvgppiDIsWzrSSgLUHGIZwIVq-2FEnknFGfb1WmBmPSt4vVL6idfQYLBY2C4JP1XIpanouTOBUSM1TikBf9lccvps5WPwahtStN951DK3fmn7EkWEweAPA1WUmQ40gI4iqOZuoGn28uSFDHC7piF0u88ouMS4uvVVmcTr9AeNOLk-2BcxlNCbdE5w-2BsJcFAKOMa2kHj2AiVLnvPLQ1yo0yDs2QE9zy1KH8O104JZcws6ysQXKej9B9J7M-2BcORDwyDOI28JSLTvXeDn4HIzHPx7aFscRS6UGKNqAmD8Gkv2dIPNpvI-2F-2BG3lBrHctoJr3Llq3nglcDrPRPXPgushTHJlgD2Yas90LxiQ6Wd-2Fiiwls95Rn6rMXqeNsCYy3MSx9TggMKXJUqwHhmu145j7i0hZw-2BC9Y4cCBPCZKrjm-2B2uu8BoUMkLCluIq2B-2BQW1ajLg8pJbq-2FS4xAQRfjLDpv1ecDTCQ-2BfV5XOUKSc9wYoymPNJwcXW-2BY64H6Q1Dnld7DCLJSQutWgGs7Yru6pBywIRVaEU6YnnCcyFJ8s-2F22lUUbnSYTaQXkq1Xu3zwYm9BID96K-2FLq5ikxb0nblRVmeCBvN6wu1W1xF1Woug9v26EA3CWx8CmkAtdWVl-2BGghIloN0E1jKpnujZ-2FGsr8z3X-2BkAB1r1s7vazn38un-2BeHLsmZGYG0Uv1JAG6AZTAJjNvDZxc8g7BGrevJCCN-2B-2FzV2RVaUXKuh-2FsJNiI0a5dBjBLCA6xo0SkCgVXKVaWc9mIlGW-2BnvULDMFLakRrfT4gmo1WXLUCtEQrwLeKnuJUuC3hMHE-2F2QSRsBuRwfHo5M4maBrSoZzHlcj-2Fj-2FQKP0hZ40f4zAfd30opcHJe9NSN0dSOWkIiTnDjLA-2FTRCDQA-2B-2Ft48UsixqZVy98-2FCxSE-2BwyagH1ScGOT7DQ1LnkCJqLVALc48M0kxPHDEUn-2B-2BTgceWIj-2BQXNj5Wp9RvfI0ktGp6EnDSwPlRfBdwX5Gmu45J4OWNSULg2cITEz150DYUTwZngHgHgPPPitkkxYr8Y-3D3N8B_oM7GKyPgU6VXhmS-2BmIhmKvQCQuZs8aRfSyghYq8AWldu-2FXcyce3RbPHGpNa-2BGY0qzWnY0eSjL0GO9UyxVT4W2EnK53fa7RMJpaxShI-2B66uv8g70OlcJ36NWz3TfQ30H3gzuifwmzA-2FPadzCi0eOa4xaT8FeiTAeMbtjDknR5ebCFqMz7ZxabTHSWDBLQ-2FrOMZmmA11TORq-2BLW0BXuO23IzJ4OPG1inG2SSBkGqz-2F8avAi6CQiF4om9tjv5aAD71Rickgjv70o5UgE5kbaki-2Fo38a-2F0KowgRii3W0XEJvAnMyHsF5fIs1dJDbWO8dXfZumtSlNLiYnBydXjnZHSwxRJ-2FTrP1PTDmduZ1C6pIzXxilGsC8KhdGQ3WEzxFuC2Un" 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data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn%3Du001.OMdVzV-2FN-2FjMvjjQtI3xB4ks3-2Finx4DQ3WxC7rutwIVYWtLFQe0D1f-2FasIHfPzhv3kJpu8UKDi8-2FvFWxHC1udmCgbPRhoFeKNDPJRiIoCvR64tcxQkI-2B0vEqSnIRawPLebCFMo9tFO0E63FPg25AvIkamAWg1qj-2FqGnGqvgppiDIsWzrSSgLUHGIZwIVq-2FEnknFGfb1WmBmPSt4vVL6idfQYLBY2C4JP1XIpanouTOBUSM1TikBf9lccvps5WPwahtStN951DK3fmn7EkWEweAPA1WUmQ40gI4iqOZuoGn28uSFDHC7piF0u88ouMS4uvVVmcTr9AeNOLk-2BcxlNCbdE5w-2BsJcFAKOMa2kHj2AiVLnvPLQ1yo0yDs2QE9zy1KH8O104JZcws6ysQXKej9B9J7M-2BcORDwyDOI28JSLTvXeDn4HIzHPx7aFscRS6UGKNqAmD8Gkv2dIPNpvI-2F-2BG3lBrHctoJr3Llq3nglcDrPRPXPgushTHJlgD2Yas90LxiQ6Wd-2Fiiwls95Rn6rMXqeNsCYy3MSx9TggMKXJUqwHhmu145j7i0hZw-2BC9Y4cCBPCZKrjm-2B2uu8BoUMkLCluIq2B-2BQW1ajLg8pJbq-2FS4xAQRfjLDpv1ecDTCQ-2BfV5XOUKSc9wYoymPNJwcXW-2BY64H6Q1Dnld7DCLJSQutWgGs7Yru6pBywIRVaEU6YnnCcyFJ8s-2F22lUUbnSYTaQXkq1Xu3zwYm9BID96K-2FLq5ikxb0nblRVmeCBvN6wu1W1xF1Woug9v26EA3CWx8CmkAtdWVl-2BGghIloN0E1jKpnujZ-2FGsr8z3X-2BkAB1r1s7vazn38un-2BeHLsmZGYG0Uv1JAG6AZTAJjNvDZxc8g7BGrevJCCN-2B-2FzV2RVaUXKuh-2FsJNiI0a5dBjBLCA6xo0SkCgVXKVaWc9mIlGW-2BnvULDMFLakRrfT4gmo1WXLUCtEQrwLeKnuJUuC3hMHE-2F2QSRsBuRwfHo5M4maBrSoZzHlcj-2Fj-2FQKP0hZ40f4zAfd30opcHJe9NSN0dSOWkIiTnDjLA-2FTRCDQA-2B-2Ft48UsixqZVy98-2FCxSE-2BwyagH1ScGOT7DQ1LnkCJqLVALc48M0kxPHDEUn-2B-2BTgceWIj-2BQXNj5Wp9RvfI0ktGp6EnDSwPlRfBdwX5Gmu45J4OWNSULg2cITEz150DYUTwZngHgHgPPPitkkxYr8Y-3D3N8B_oM7GKyPgU6VXhmS-2BmIhmKvQCQuZs8aRfSyghYq8AWldu-2FXcyce3RbPHGpNa-2BGY0qzWnY0eSjL0GO9UyxVT4W2EnK53fa7RMJpaxShI-2B66uv8g70OlcJ36NWz3TfQ30H3gzuifwmzA-2FPadzCi0eOa4xaT8FeiTAeMbtjDknR5ebCFqMz7ZxabTHSWDBLQ-2FrOMZmmA11TORq-2BLW0BXuO23IzJ4OPG1inG2SSBkGqz-2F8avAi6CQiF4om9tjv5aAD71Rickgjv70o5UgE5kbaki-2Fo38a-2F0KowgRii3W0XEJvAnMyHsF5fIs1dJDbWO8dXfZumtSlNLiYnBydXjnZHSwxRJ-2FTrP1PTDmduZ1C6pIzXxilGsC8KhdGQ3WEzxFuC2Un&source=gmail&ust=1744117564535000&usg=AOvVaw1atu4lOEPIIypsCy5KT9Ag" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><em class=""><b class="">Project Syndicate</b></em></a></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> <strong class="">to learn more. </strong></span><span style="font-size: 5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div></div></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""><span class="m_-5029917214209055328author-d-1gg9uz65z1iz85zgdz68zmqkz84zo2qowz80zsz83zz122zz78z2toz86zz80zz79zz87z3z67zz122zz89zz68z3z79z89z122zz67zz122z3z77zgdz71zz71zz66z"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">###</span></span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></div></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""> <span style="font-size: 6pt;" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;" class=""><em class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: white;" class="">The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.</span></em></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">=====</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.iatp.org/tariff-mayhem?utm_source=IATP+Full+List&utm_campaign=b544c2a52a-MARCH_NEWS_18_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3f024f9ff8-b544c2a52a-63588857" class="">https://www.iatp.org/tariff-mayhem?utm_source=IATP+Full+List&utm_campaign=b544c2a52a-MARCH_NEWS_18_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3f024f9ff8-b544c2a52a-63588857</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b style="font-size: 36px;" class="">Tariff mayhem: A shortcut to higher prices, fewer jobs, and broken friendships</b></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="field--name-field-author field--label-hidden field--items field field--type-entity-reference" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: acumin-pro, sans-serif; font-size: 21px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2em;"><div class="field--item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="ds-1col node clearfix node--type-person node--view-mode-thumbnail-linked" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.iatp.org/about/staff/sophia-murphy" class="field-group-link" hreflang="en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); text-decoration: none; display: flex; align-items: center; row-gap: 8px; column-gap: 8px; margin-bottom: 6px;"><div class="field--label-hidden field--item field--name-node-title field--type-ds field" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" class="">Sophia Murphy</div></div></a></div></div></div><div class="field--label-hidden field--name-node-post-date field--type-ds field--item field" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: acumin-pro, sans-serif; font-size: 21px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2em;">Apr 1, 2025</div><div class="field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item field field--name-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" class="">Love them or hate them, there is no getting around <a href="https://www.iatp.org/trade-basics-tariffs-101" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(11, 77, 172); text-decoration: none;" class=""><u style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">how tariffs work</u></a> — the country that imposes them pays for them. To repeat what is rapidly becoming household knowledge across the United States: tariffs are a tax imposed on goods as they enter a country. The tariff is collected by the government in the importing country and paid by the importing firm. Which means, ultimately, tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump have a cost for those of us who live here. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" class="">Tariffs reduce supply, which tends to raise prices. Companies with sufficient market power may raise prices even beyond what the tariffs themselves cost, taking advantage of the situation, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/us/coronavirus-price-gouging-hand-sanitizer-masks-wipes.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(11, 77, 172); text-decoration: none;" class=""><u style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">as happened during the COVID pandemic</u></a>. Brace yourselves for higher prices: the president is promising a big wave of new tariffs this week, to be announced on April 2. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" class="">Although President Trump and his cabinet speak excitedly about tariffs’ potential contribution to government revenues, that is not their primary effect. Tariffs contributed just <a href="https://www.voronoiapp.com/trade/Tariffs-as-a-Share-of-US-Government-Revenue-4012" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(11, 77, 172); text-decoration: none;" class=""><u style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">1.6% of U.S. government revenue</u></a> in 2024. Especially at rates of 10% and 25%, which are the levels the president is proposing, tariffs are most likely to discourage trade altogether, not make the Treasury rich. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" class="">Raising tariffs obviously hurts the foreign producers who sell their exports to the United States. Just the threat of tariffs on the scale that President Trump proposes can send exporters looking for alternative markets, prompting a reorganization of value chains and a search for new trade partners. This all takes time and costs money — Canada is furious (and scared) for a reason. Although Mexico has been quieter in public, their economy is no less threatened by President Trump’s determination to make imports cost more. Our neighbors will be the poorer for this policy. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" class="">But so will we. In Minnesota, <a href="https://www.mnchamber.com/blog/north-america-fuels-minnesotas-trade-growth#:~:text=Minnesota's%20top%20exports%20to%20Canada,and%20machinery%20(%24862%20M)" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(11, 77, 172); text-decoration: none;" class=""><u style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">nearly half of exports went to either Canada or Mexico</u></a> in 2024. Even just a threat of tariff hikes has an economic impact. Tariff talk provokes trade partners to respond — the most common reaction to a unilateral tariff increase such as those ordered by the president is for the affected trade partner to impose counter-tariffs. Among the three countries singled out for the highest tariff increases by the Trump administration — China, Canada and Mexico — both Canada and China have announced retaliatory tariffs while Mexico seems to be taking a more “wait and see" approach. Trade relationships are not made overnight, but they can end abruptly, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/adaa8ffe-349d-45d9-b976-fa8439828532" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(11, 77, 172); text-decoration: none;" class=""><u style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">as U.S. wine and liquor exporters are learning</u></a>. Big tariff increases break relationships, especially if they are announced without negotiation and backed by threats. Canada’s new Prime Minister, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/5218631-mark-carney-on-trump-tariffs-old-canada-us-relationship-is-over/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(11, 77, 172); text-decoration: none;" class=""><u style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Mark Carney, said on Thursday</u></a>, that the close relationship Canada and the U.S. has enjoyed for more than a century is “over.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" class="">When tariffs are imposed and withdrawn without consultation or warning, they discourage investment and reduce competitiveness in the economy using the tariffs. In turn, that prompts slower job creation. Economic forecasts show this happening in the United States. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" class="">When the new administration took power, the economy was set for growth with relatively low unemployment and low inflation. This past week, as differing statements on tariffs succeeded one after another, economic forecasts have turned more pessimistic. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/fed-sees-higher-inflation-and-slower-u-s-economy-due-to-uncertainty-tied-to-trump-tariffs/ar-AA1Bg21E" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(11, 77, 172); text-decoration: none;" class=""><u style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Jerome Powell predicted </u></a>significantly slower growth and higher inflation, while Austan Goolsbee, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/09fb6138-d626-40f6-b93b-b955e9c39a7a" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(11, 77, 172); text-decoration: none;" class=""><u style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">warned</u></a> that inflation expectations risk becoming self-fulfilling as an increasing number of consumers and businesses appear to believe higher inflation is inevitable and are acting accordingly. Some economists predict the U.S. could be headed for a recession. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" class="">In targeting Canada, China and Mexico, the president has picked the three biggest agricultural trading partners of the United States. Minnesota’s agriculture sector alone sends $10 billion of goods abroad, <a href="https://www.mda.state.mn.us/sites/default/files/docs/2023-03/MNagexport2023-1pg.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(11, 77, 172); text-decoration: none;" class=""><u style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">over half of which are corn, soybeans and their byproducts</u></a>. Yet as they learned during the first Trump administration, farmers are particularly vulnerable to trade wars. Then, farmers saw soybean exports to China shrivel in response to the counter-tariffs China imposed in response to U.S. tariffs on Chinese steel imports. Those counter-tariffs resulted in a 75% fall in U.S. soy exports to China and prompted a federal bailout of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/us/politics/farmers-bailouts-trump-tariffs.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(11, 77, 172); text-decoration: none;" class=""><u style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">$23 billion in public money</u></a> for affected farmers. The lost markets have not been recovered. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" class="">IATP argues Midwest farms must diversify away from corn and soybeans. We want to see fairer markets for producers, and regulation force cost-internalization of the big environmental and social costs imposed by monocrop export agriculture. But that is a strategy that needs time to implement, and transitional investment. The transition our food systems need will be all the harder if farmers start in a financial hole. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" class="">The government could be harnessing one of tariffs’ predictable dynamic effects: increased domestic production and sales. This outcome is one that many U.S. farm organizations would support: tariffs in support of fair market prices and stronger local purchasing systems. Were the tariffs predictable, this strategy could use tariffs judiciously to protect a supply for consumers who want better working conditions in agriculture, stronger animal welfare rules, and far less environmental damage (all of which are huge problems in U.S. food systems). </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" class="">Tragically, at the same time as the president has created so much turmoil for farmers with tariffs, his administration has slashed support to hugely successful if still emergent local food economies across the country. Last month, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins defended her decision to cut <a href="https://www.iatp.org/trump-admin-cuts-local-food-funding" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(11, 77, 172); text-decoration: none;" class=""><u style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">over $1 billion</u></a> that had been appropriated for a nationwide program of support to resilient local food programs. She is reported to have said the program was “nonessential” and, absurdly, added the programs had been about “food justice for trans people in New York and San Francisco.” Her statement was offensive. It was also wrong. <a href="https://www.nycfoodpolicy.org/states-with-universal-free-school-meals-so-far-update/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(11, 77, 172); text-decoration: none;" class=""><u style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Hunter College reports</u></a> that 35 states have passed or considered legislation to establish free school meals in the state for every school child in the past two years. The need and demand for access to more and better food is nationwide.</p><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" class="">The emerging web of markets for local foods meets a series of public interest goals, including public health, education and rural economic revitalization. IATP will continue to protect and promote these resilient regional food systems. They model the kind of market relationships that we want to see in international trade too. We will continue to amplify public demand for investment in fair markets, healthy food and clean production, and to develop trade policy that raises the quality of what we grow, sell, buy and consume, whether at home or abroad. </div></div><div class="field--label-inline field--name-issue field field--type-entity-reference" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"></div></div><div class="">=====</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span lang="EN-GB" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-s-tariffs-are-extremely-dumb-just-not-for-the-reasons-you-might-think" class="">https://www.commondreams.org/<font color="#1155cc" class=""><wbr class="">opinion/trump-s-tariffs-are-<wbr class="">extremely-dumb-just-not-for-<wbr class="">the-reasons-you-might-think</font></a></span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Trump's Tariffs Are Extremely Dumb, Just Not For The Reasons You Might Think<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><i class="">Our global trade system is broken, but Trump’s tariffs are not the answer</i><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">By Iza Camarillo, </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">4/4/25<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">On April 2, </span><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/donald-trump" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.commondreams.org/tag/donald-trump&source=gmail&ust=1744117460489000&usg=AOvVaw1TW980tG6i9wUQQlnZnNhZ" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Donald Trump</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> </span><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/regulating-imports-with-a-reciprocal-tariff-to-rectify-trade-practices-that-contribute-to-large-and-persistent-annual-united-states-goods-trade-deficits/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/regulating-imports-with-a-reciprocal-tariff-to-rectify-trade-practices-that-contribute-to-large-and-persistent-annual-united-states-goods-trade-deficits/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460489000&usg=AOvVaw3K8L_aFfcXBtTs3XpvQL7H" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">declared a national emergency and announced sweeping tariffs</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> on nearly all imported goods. The headlines were dramatic — tariffs on China, allies like Canada and Mexico, and everything from cars to coffee beans. His administration framed the move as a patriotic stance for “reciprocal trade” and economic sovereignty.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Don’t be fooled. This isn’t the collapse of “free trade.” It’s the continuation of corporate globalization — just with a MAGA bumper sticker slapped on it.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Trump says he’s standing up for American workers. But he’s the same president who signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and called it </span><a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-usmca-celebration-american-workers-warren-mi/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-usmca-celebration-american-workers-warren-mi/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460489000&usg=AOvVaw2Cfbob7mqClSJsbU_Ca7QB" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">“the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law.”</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> The rebranded North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) deal — despite some improvements forced in by congressional Democrats and civil society organizations — contained much of the same structural rot that has enabled outsourcing, empowered monopolies, and tied the hands of governments trying to protect their people and environment.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><i class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><i class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Trump is not rejecting the corporate trade model. He’s weaponizing it.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">For decades, “free trade” deals like NAFTA locked in rules written by and for multinational corporations: rules that made offshoring easier, gutted environmental protections, and prioritized investor rights over worker rights. Stagnant wages, emptied factory towns, and rising income inequality have caused widespread pain and frustration among working Americans — which Trump has weaponized again and again.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Tariffs can be part of the answer to these problems, but Trump’s ham-handed approach ain’t it. There’s no industrial strategy. No labor plan. No climate protections. Just a unilateral, top-down stunt that does nothing to dismantle the corporate architecture still rigging the global economy.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Pair this “concept of a plan” with the rest of his agenda: gutting investment in vital sectors such as biomedical research, support for basic science and clean and affordable energy technologies and products; slashing all efforts to combat child labor and other egregious labor rights violations around the world, providing tax cuts for billionaires and corporations; stripping away health care, food support and other vital services for the most vulnerable Americans, undermining Social Security, and decertifying and undermining the power of labor unions.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">It’s clear working people will not be the winners here.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Who Wrote the Rules? U.S. Corporations, Not Foreign Adversaries<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Trump loves to blame other countries, claiming global trade has “looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered” the U.S. economy in his “Liberation Day” speech. He claims that the U.S. has been victimized by other countries and has been “too nice” in response.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Nothing could be further from the truth — the rules of the neoliberal trade system were rigged in favor of large corporate interests in the Global North. While workers in the U.S. and around the world were the losers, Wall Street, Big Tech, Big Ag, Big Pharma, and other U.S. corporate giants have always been the winners.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">For decades, U.S. </span><a href="https://rethinktrade.org/ustr-advisors/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://rethinktrade.org/ustr-advisors/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460489000&usg=AOvVaw3iYB1zMcwl6GM8MTt768BD" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">corporate lobbyists have used their privileged access</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> to closed-door trade negotiations to rig the rules to maximize their profits, not to serve working people, small businesses, or the environment.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">They pushed for extreme intellectual property rules to entrench Big Pharma monopolies that keep the price of medicines sky high, with deadly consequences. They demanded open capital markets and deregulated financial flows for Wall Street while securing rules that let agribusiness giants flood foreign markets with subsidized U.S. commodities, </span><a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/NAFTA-Factsheet_Mexico-Legacy_Oct-2019.pdf" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/NAFTA-Factsheet_Mexico-Legacy_Oct-2019.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1744117460489000&usg=AOvVaw17T1J_qJxHdGMJ2pssEAlz" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">displacing millions of farmers</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> and leading to forced migration.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><i class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><i class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Trade justice requires more than poorly designed tariffs. It demands systemic reform: binding labor rights, climate protections, resilient supply chains, and democratic accountability. Trump offers none of that.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">At the same time, they ensured that governments couldn’t support domestic industries, raise labor standards, or enforce environmental protections without being accused of “trade distortion.” The result was a </span><a href="https://www.epi.org/blog/naftas-impact-workers/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.epi.org/blog/naftas-impact-workers/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460489000&usg=AOvVaw0RD9mqdi5GfztRApGqYl5n" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">race to the bottom</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> for workers and communities — here and abroad — with record profits for corporate giants.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">It matters a lot that Trump is identifying the wrong perpetrators of the failed global trade system because that sets the table for wrong solutions.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Once we identify multinational corporations as the architects of the current system, we’re directed toward the right solutions – not blanket, high tariffs based on mindless formulas, but a new trade policy and new trade rules that prioritize the interests of workers, consumers, and the environment.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">NAFTA to USMCA: Same Corporate Model With Some Improvements (No Thanks to Trump)<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Trump spent years railing against NAFTA as the </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/trump-calls-nafta-one-of-the-worst-deals-anybody-in-history-has-ever-entered-into/2017/08/29/ad994864-8827-11e7-96a7-d178cf3524eb_video.html" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/trump-calls-nafta-one-of-the-worst-deals-anybody-in-history-has-ever-entered-into/2017/08/29/ad994864-8827-11e7-96a7-d178cf3524eb_video.html&source=gmail&ust=1744117460489000&usg=AOvVaw1cj-fVSNCjHwXDtazDTYlz" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">“worst trade deal anybody in history has ever entered into,”</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> tapping into the legitimate grievances of workers and communities harmed by its race to the bottom. He campaigned on a promise to eliminate it and replace it with a better agreement for workers.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">However, once elected, he opted to renegotiate and rebrand the deal in the form of the USMCA, which he then insisted was “the best trade deal in history.” Now, in a dizzying reversal, he’s claiming the USMCA has been a disaster that only an aggressive wave of “retaliatory” tariffs on Canada and Mexico will fix.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/timeline-whats-the-story-with-the-new-nafta/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.citizen.org/article/timeline-whats-the-story-with-the-new-nafta/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460489000&usg=AOvVaw0-eEyQCQ2_QPCb_B5nO0A-" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">In reality</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class="">, while some improvements were forced into the negotiation, the USMCA largely preserved the core logic that made NAFTA so harmful in the first place. It expands corporate rights, limits democratic oversight, and undermines public protections in the name of increased trade.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">The new labor provisions — often cited as proof of a “new era” in trade — </span><a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/nafta_2.0_text_analysis.pdf" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/nafta_2.0_text_analysis.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw2gyrYeR1nJrr1oWJTD6Wgt" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">were not original features of Trump’s deal</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class="">. They were won through months of intense organizing and negotiation by House Democrats, labor unions, and civil society groups.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Congressional Democrats working in close alliance with the AFL-CIO drew a hard line. Backed by the relentless organizing of groups like </span><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/public-citizen" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.commondreams.org/tag/public-citizen&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw1JAiU4JPCOSjALYtxQNFZZ" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Public Citizen</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class="">, the Communications Workers of America, United Steelworkers, and a transnational coalition of Mexican and Canadian labor and civil society partners, they made it clear: they would block passage of any deal unless meaningful labor enforcement were included and </span><a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/fact-sheet-big-pharma-rigged-the-revised-nafta-to-keep-drug-prices-high/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.citizen.org/article/fact-sheet-big-pharma-rigged-the-revised-nafta-to-keep-drug-prices-high/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw0PZr4Kxui8Kq05CSyprztW" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">damaging Big Pharma giveaways</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> were removed.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Trump’s administration favored language that preserved corporate prerogatives and offered only symbolic nods to labor rights. Still, in the end, it acquiesced to congressional Democrats’ demands. It incorporated essential tools like the facility-specific Rapid Response Mechanism for labor enforcement and eliminated some of the most egregious giveaways to Big Pharma.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">However, the structural rot from NAFTA remained.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">While experts across the ideological spectrum lauded the drastic reduction of controversial investor privileges that allow corporations to sue governments over public interest laws through investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), Trump preserved ISDS for fossil fuel firms operating in Mexico — </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2018/10/03/the-energy-202-big-oil-and-gas-companies-are-winners-in-trump-s-new-trade-deal/5bb39b531b326b7c8a8d17cc/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2018/10/03/the-energy-202-big-oil-and-gas-companies-are-winners-in-trump-s-new-trade-deal/5bb39b531b326b7c8a8d17cc/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw2xJCNinrIqGwF6Eo3EsYSh" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">a carve-out aggressively pushed by Big Oil</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class="">.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Agribusiness also retained its arsenal. The ongoing U.S. trade challenge to Mexico’s restrictions on </span><a href="https://www.iatp.org/documents/understanding-agricultural-biotechnology-provisions-us-mexico-canada-agreement" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.iatp.org/documents/understanding-agricultural-biotechnology-provisions-us-mexico-canada-agreement&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw3NgyysXrj_RuovDE8fAM1h" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">genetically modified corn</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> — measures rooted in precautionary health standards and cultural preservation — reveal the deal’s true intent. Rather than respecting national policy space over food safety, trade rules are once again being deployed to dismantle domestic protections at the </span><a href="https://on.ft.com/3EL4szR" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://on.ft.com/3EL4szR&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw1HeLWQfV8SEJ3ZpPDFQJpD" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">behest of corporations</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class="">.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Not only did </span><a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/making-nafta-worse-giveaways-for-big-tech/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.citizen.org/article/making-nafta-worse-giveaways-for-big-tech/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw3QHKJxGJOlDdc11mF8xCgM" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Trump fail to fix NAFTA</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class="">, but he made it even worse in at least one crucial way: Big Tech secured its wishlist in the form of a digital trade chapter. These new terms undermine the ability of U.S. states, Congress, and other countries’ governments to hold Big Tech accountable for gender and racial bias in AI, rampant abuse of our privacy, and monopolistic overreach.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Performative “Protectionism” and the Authoritarian Trade Playbook<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Far from dismantling the corporate trade regime, Trump’s first term revealed him as a loyal steward of it — so long as he could plaster his name on it. Despite the USMCA rebrand, he left the core NAFTA structure intact and continued to stoke public anger over working people’s struggles — not by confronting the root causes but by scapegoating other nations. And he has been increasingly employing tariff threats as his weapon of choice — not in pursuit of justice but as a blunt instrument of control.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Just weeks ago, Trump threatened new tariffs unless </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexican-troops-deployed-border-part-deal-pause-us-tariffs-2025-02-04/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexican-troops-deployed-border-part-deal-pause-us-tariffs-2025-02-04/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw2Zj_xSPDciEx1C4xMNTS90" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Mexico deployed troops to militarize the border</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class="">. He pressured </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/colombia-immigration-deportation-flights-petro-trump-us-67870e41556c5d8791d22ec6767049fd" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://apnews.com/article/colombia-immigration-deportation-flights-petro-trump-us-67870e41556c5d8791d22ec6767049fd&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw3jO9l49PM_FMhKPw_omdYt" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Colombia to accept a deportation flight of asylum seekers</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class="">.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Big Tech companies are awaiting their handouts, as it is </span><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/02/tech-tariffs-optimism-030088" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/02/tech-tariffs-optimism-030088&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw0hR3uxBq9ex4FPFlNAbfmN" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">widely expected</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> that Trump will lift tariffs on countries that agree to undo tech accountability policies.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">And perversely, he is using tariffs as a cudgel to pressure other countries into signing the very liberalizing trade agreements he claims to oppose.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">“Liberation Day” was more of the same from this ever-more-authoritarian White House: an emergency decree bypassing Congress, escalating instability, and concentrating power in the executive. Trump hasn’t rejected the anti-democratic nature of the neoliberal trade model — he’s replicating it with a vengeance.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">All Madness, No Method<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">While tariffs can be a useful tool, they must be transparently employed in strategic sectors for a clear purpose following careful analysis and open debate.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Trump’s tariffs, however, are based on misleading data and flawed logic. He uses exaggerated trade deficit calculations and stays silent on how the U.S. dollar’s dominance enables America to import far more than it exports, a luxury most Global South nations — burdened with debt and structural trade deficits — cannot afford.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">The methodology behind these tariffs has </span><a href="https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/trump-admin-tariffs/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/trump-admin-tariffs/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw0KIqtr2kJOB31WB0gYZg0M" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">experts scratching their heads</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class="">.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Trump claimed that the “reciprocal tariffs” were derived from a detailed assessment of each country’s tariff and non-tariff barriers (more on these in a moment). In fact, the number assigned to each country seems to be based on the difference between the total value of imports the U.S. receives from a country versus the amount we export to it.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Apparently, no regard was given to why there may be a large imbalance. For example, Lesotho, which Trump dismissed as a country “nobody has ever heard of,” was hit with the highest tariff of any country at 50%. Forget the fact that the small, landlocked country’s population of 2 million may not be able to afford Made in America products, leading to a lopsided trade balance.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">The crude formula used to determine each country’s “reciprocal” tariff was described by Nobel Prize-winning economist </span><a href="https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/will-careless-stupidity-kill-the" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/will-careless-stupidity-kill-the&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw0fk0V5yu689gkEkL6x2euW" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Paul Krugman</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> as something that appeared to be “thrown together by a junior staffer with only a couple of hours’ notice,” and “reads like something written by a student who hasn’t done the reading and is trying to bullshit their way through an exam.”<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">As some commentators have noted, this tariff breakdown is what you get if you </span><a href="https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/will-careless-stupidity-kill-the" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/will-careless-stupidity-kill-the&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw0fk0V5yu689gkEkL6x2euW" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">ask ChatGPT to come up with a U.S. trade policy</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class="">. This could very well be the first global economic policy written “of, by, and for” our robot overlords. What could possibly go wrong?<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">The Corporate Wishlist<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Since the Trump administration clearly did not take on the, admittedly Herculean, task of reviewing the thousands of tariffs and trade barriers imposed by hundreds of countries, it simply used trade imbalances as a crude proxy. It’s a stand-in for the cost of that country’s tariffs and, importantly, its non-tariff barriers.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">“Non-tariff barrier” is trade-speak for “</span><a href="https://www.citizen.org/news/2025-annual-ustr-report-resurrects-corporate-wishlist-attacking-climate-health-and-digital-regulation/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.citizen.org/news/2025-annual-ustr-report-resurrects-corporate-wishlist-attacking-climate-health-and-digital-regulation/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw2mXN1bA-MezkYtq0Qf0rzm" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">any policy that’s not a tariff</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class="">” but might restrict trade — from climate protections to minimum wage laws to consumer protections in the form of toxic food additives. While many non-tariff barriers serve vital public policies, corporations and trade negotiators often treat them as obstacles to profit.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">According to the </span><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/regulating-imports-with-a-reciprocal-tariff-to-rectify-trade-practices-that-contribute-to-large-and-persistent-annual-united-states-goods-trade-deficits/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/regulating-imports-with-a-reciprocal-tariff-to-rectify-trade-practices-that-contribute-to-large-and-persistent-annual-united-states-goods-trade-deficits/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw1tjYLu4c3GKDCVhh1a5lvv" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">April 2 executive order</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class="">, Trump can unilaterally decide to lower the tariffs imposed on a country if it takes “significant steps to remedy non-reciprocal trade arrangements and align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national security matters.”<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">What constitutes a “significant step” isn’t defined, but it certainly looks like an open invitation for governments to slash their tariffs and reverse policies to appease Trump and his billionaire buddies.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">For what exactly those policies may be, just look to the report Trump waved around at the beginning of his so-called “Liberation Day” tariff announcement speech in the Rose Garden.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">That document is a 400-page list of the policies that other countries have enacted — or are even considering enacting — that U.S. corporations don’t like. It’s the National Trade Estimates Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, an annual government report that has long been criticized as an inappropriate overreach to name and shame other countries’ legitimate public interest policies. It’s also a glimpse of the policies that Trump may seek to have destroyed in exchange for tariff relief.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">The policies targeted in this year’s report include climate protections, including Canada’s Clean Fuel Standard, the European Union’s Deforestation-Free Supply Chain Regulation, and Japan’s renewable energy incentives — all of which are aligned with global climate commitments.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Public health regulations aimed at protecting consumers, preserving biodiversity, and preventing long-term health risks were also attacked. Employed by dozens of countries, these include bans, testing requirements, or even labeling policies on pesticides like Roundup’s glyphosate, genetically engineered food, ractopamine in beef and pork, and heavy metals in cosmetics.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Regulations that promote competition in the digital ecosystem, laws that impose digital services taxes on Big Tech firms, place conditions for cross-border data transfers, promote fairness in the digital economy, and laws that regulate emerging technologies such as AI.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Benefits for Trump’s Buddies<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Countries are not the only ones who will be supplicating to avoid the full weight of Trump’s tariffs. Despite Trump’s claims that other countries foot the bill on tariffs, it is U.S. importers who must pay this fee … unless they can convince Trump to grant them a special exemption.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">It is </span><a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/trump-loves-tariffs-just-not-for-the-rich-and-well-connected/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.citizen.org/article/trump-loves-tariffs-just-not-for-the-rich-and-well-connected/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw0vRE1WU_gg0uHl12GvE25o" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">well-documented</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> that the opaque and chaotic tariff exclusion process created in Trump’s first term quickly overwhelmed government agencies and enabled a quid pro quo spoils system that rewarded the rich and well-connected. A revolving door of lobbyists, including former and future Trump administration officials, were able to secure lucrative tariff exceptions for their CEO clients through political pressure, informal meetings, and campaign contributions.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><i class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Trump’s latest stunt had nothing to do with “liberation.” You can’t fix a rigged trade system while keeping its rules and attacking people at every turn.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><i class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Through this system, Trump wielded tariffs and tariff exceptions to </span><a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/trump-loves-tariffs-just-not-for-the-rich-and-well-connected/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.citizen.org/article/trump-loves-tariffs-just-not-for-the-rich-and-well-connected/&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw0vRE1WU_gg0uHl12GvE25o" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">reward his friends</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> and punish his enemies. CEOs that donated to Republicans had a 1 in 5 chance of having their exemption request granted versus 1 in 10 for CEOs that supported Democrats, according to a January 2025 study.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">If Trump’s recent attacks on law firms, universities, and the press are any indication, he’s prepared to double down on using his second term to punish enemies and enrich himself and his friends. And his dismantling of watchdog agencies and boosting of big business ties set the stage for tariff exemptions to be even more corrupt and harmful to workers, consumers, and the U.S. and global economy.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">What other displays of political loyalty </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIALTQjMKma/?igsh=bWxxa2thcjlxN3J5" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIALTQjMKma/?igsh%3DbWxxa2thcjlxN3J5&source=gmail&ust=1744117460490000&usg=AOvVaw1nbfp5oB6QsYyxb8jfihWf" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">might companies offer</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" class=""> to Trump for a tariff exclusion this time around? Public endorsement of his policies? Promises to monitor employees for DEI ideologies or views critical of the administration?<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">We Deserve Better<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Trade justice requires more than poorly designed tariffs. It demands systemic reform: binding labor rights, climate protections, resilient supply chains, and democratic accountability. Trump offers none of that.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">There’s no industrial plan. No support for unions. No climate-resilience vision. Just a chaotic, performative tariff regime, which in practice will surely be wielded to reward loyalty and punish dissent.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">Trump’s latest stunt had nothing to do with “liberation.” You can’t fix a rigged trade system while keeping its rules and attacking people at every turn. Trump talks a big game but serves the same corporate interests that gutted labor rights in the first place. Working people deserve a system with them at the center, not one that favors corporations.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><span lang="EN-GB" class="">This isn’t trade justice. It’s a con.</span></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">======</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/trump-s-tariffs-hurt-workers-smarter-trade-strategy-could-empower-them" class="">https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/trump-s-tariffs-hurt-workers-smarter-trade-strategy-could-empower-them</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="font-style: normal; font-size: 36px;" class=""><b class="">Trump’s Tariffs Hurt Workers. A Smarter Trade Strategy Could Empower Them. </b></span></div><div class=""><font size="5" class=""><i class="">We need strategic thinking, not bluster </i></font></div><div class=""><font size="5" class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" class=""><br class=""></span></font></div><div class=""><font size="5" class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" class="">By Ben Jealous April 4, 2025</span></font></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.9107142857em; font-family: "Gotham A", "Gotham B", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Distributed by Trice Edney Newswire</em></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.9107142857em 0px; font-family: "Gotham A", "Gotham B", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">In the Trump era, economic policy often comes with more bluster than strategy. His latest round of tariffs is no exception. Slapped on a broad swath of imported goods without rhyme, reason, or regard for the people who will bear the brunt of the cost—American families and workers—these tariffs are a political stunt masquerading as industrial policy.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.9107142857em 0px; font-family: "Gotham A", "Gotham B", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Let’s be clear: Tariffs can be a tool for economic transformation. But they must be wielded with precision, guided by vision, and paired with bold investments. What Trump is doing is none of that.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.9107142857em 0px; font-family: "Gotham A", "Gotham B", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">His scattershot approach will disturb the ongoing US manufacturing renaissance and raise prices on everything from cars to appliances, hitting working families hardest. The administration's recently announced 25 percent tariff on all cars and auto parts not made entirely in the United States could drive up the cost of an average new car by thousands of dollars. And for what? There are no clear signals to industry, no long-term plans for job creation, no environmental guardrails—just chaos and chest thumping.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.9107142857em 0px; font-family: "Gotham A", "Gotham B", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">We’ve seen this movie before. During Trump’s first term, similar tariffs on steel and aluminum were supposed to help revive American manufacturing. And they could have, had he invested in clean, safe, high-tech production and the American supply chain. Instead, Trump opted for pain and scarcity. Less availability of metals had a </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/graphics/TRUMP-TARIFFS/STEEL/gdpznwgdzpw/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 153); transition: all 100ms linear 0s;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">negative downstream impact</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> on the industries that relied on them. Prices on goods made with metals went up. And American metal makers didn’t have a reason to invest in advanced manufacturing. </span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.9107142857em 0px; font-family: "Gotham A", "Gotham B", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">American manufacturing actually has been revived since then, but it was the Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and other initiatives like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that were responsible. The previous administration’s trade policy was also smarter, with narrowly focused tariff increases specifically targeted to China and on sectors critical to the clean energy transition—solar panels, electric vehicles, EV batteries, semiconductors, and yes, steel and aluminum. Ideally, tariffs should be paired with investments in domestic manufacturing, particularly in facilities that are clean, unionized, and ready to meet the climate challenge. And tariffs should send a clear message to competitors that there will be consequences for polluting, relying on forced labor, and other harmful practices.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.9107142857em 0px; font-family: "Gotham A", "Gotham B", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">This is not just about economics; it is about justice. Low-income and working-class communities have borne the brunt of dirty industry and offshored jobs. Reindustrializing America has to be different this time. We need a clean, equitable economy built with and for working families.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.9107142857em 0px; font-family: "Gotham A", "Gotham B", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">And here’s the good news: It is possible. I have seen it. From my time crisscrossing the country opposing NAFTA 30 years ago to my current work with the Sierra Club, I have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with labor leaders, environmental advocates, and frontline communities. We agree more often than not. We want trade policies that lift wages, protect the planet, and rebuild domestic industries—not that rig the game for polluters and drive up prices on already-struggling consumers.</span></div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.9107142857em 0px; font-family: "Gotham A", "Gotham B", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.9107142857em 0px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">One step in the right direction is for trade agreements and tariffs to address pollution and include </span><a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/default/files/2023-12/Carbon-Border-Adjustments-White-Paper-Final-V2.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 153); transition: all 100ms linear 0s;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">carbon border adjustment mechanisms</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">—fees based on the pollution in imported goods exceeding US levels. If your steel pollutes rivers in Mexico or your solar panels are made with coal power in China, you should not get a free pass in the US market. These mechanisms level the playing field, give American manufacturers a reason to go green and become cleaner, and improve conditions for workers and manufacturing communities overseas.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.9107142857em 0px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">We also need to update agreements like the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement to include rapid-response mechanisms not just for labor abuses but for environmental violations too. If a country undercuts us by trashing its air and water, we should be able to act quickly.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.9107142857em 0px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Trump’s tariffs don’t do any of that. They are about headlines, not outcomes. And we do not have time for empty gestures. The climate crisis is here. American workers are tired of being played. And families across this country cannot afford higher prices with no payoff.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.9107142857em 0px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">We need a real plan. One that brings together labor and environmentalists, manufacturers, and frontline communities. One that builds a new industrial vision—not just for profit but for people and planet.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.9107142857em 0px 0px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">The path is clear. What we need now is the courage to walk it.</span></div></span></div><div class="">=====</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><table role="presentation" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td width="550" align="left" style="margin: 0px;" class=""><div style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; max-width: 550px; width: 550px; margin: 0px auto;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="padding: 32px 0px 0px; line-height: 26px;" class=""><div style="line-height: 26px;" class=""><h1 style="color: rgb(54, 55, 55); font-family: "SF Pro Display", -apple-system-headline, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; margin: 0px; line-height: 36px; font-size: 32px;" class=""><a href="https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=57821&post_id=160663457&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=5g5ndf&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozMjk0NjgzMDcsInBvc3RfaWQiOjE2MDY2MzQ1NywiaWF0IjoxNzQzODgzODUyLCJleHAiOjE3NDY0NzU4NTIsImlzcyI6InB1Yi01NzgyMSIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.ayrWur9VkzuW4_rQJkXXW70bEaNRTEwU6E1H8JRm07k" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id%3D57821%26post_id%3D160663457%26utm_source%3Dpost-email-title%26utm_campaign%3Demail-post-title%26isFreemail%3Dtrue%26r%3D5g5ndf%26token%3DeyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozMjk0NjgzMDcsInBvc3RfaWQiOjE2MDY2MzQ1NywiaWF0IjoxNzQzODgzODUyLCJleHAiOjE3NDY0NzU4NTIsImlzcyI6InB1Yi01NzgyMSIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.ayrWur9VkzuW4_rQJkXXW70bEaNRTEwU6E1H8JRm07k&source=gmail&ust=1744118693731000&usg=AOvVaw1XM1tuhVydU59p5XXktwL7" style="color: rgb(54, 55, 55); text-decoration: none;" class="">Beyond Tariffs: What Neoliberals Get Wrong About American Manufacturing</a></h1><h3 style="font-family: "SF Pro Display", -apple-system-headline, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-weight: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px;" class="">Trump’s tariffs lack strategy, fueling inflation without solutions. Neoliberal Democrats dismiss manufacturing jobs as unattainable and unneeded.</h3></div></div><div dir="auto" style="padding: 32px 0px 0px; line-height: 26px;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: initial; line-height: 26px; width: 550px; word-break: break-word; margin-bottom: 16px;" class=""><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">There’s a certain kind of elite liberal who really believes the grocery store makes food.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">You’ve probably met them. They’ll say we don’t need to make anything here anymore because we’re rich and we can just pay other countries to do it. Like the dollar is some magic token that guarantees someone somewhere will always make our stuff, ship it to us, and thank us for the privilege and the greenback.</p><div style="line-height: 26px;" class=""><div style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 1.5; max-width: 560px; margin: 24px auto; text-align: center; padding: 0px 32px; direction: ltr !important;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; direction: ltr; line-height: 26px;" class=""><div style="text-decoration: unset; list-style: none; line-height: 26px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px;" class=""></div></div></div></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">It’s the same thinking as someone who eats meat but doesn’t want to see a bone—doesn’t want to be reminded that it came from an animal. Doesn’t want to know the messy, real process that brings that meat to the table. That kind of person wants everything polished, shrink-wrapped, and abstracted from reality.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">And that’s exactly how we treat the economy now. We think food comes from the grocery store, electricity comes from the wall, and medicine comes from CVS. We’ve become a country so detached from the systems that keep us alive that we think GDP growth and financialization are the same thing as wealth. They are not wealth.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class=""><strong class="">Real wealth is the ability to build, grow, refine, produce.</strong> It’s the ability to create the things you need—and the things the world wants—from raw materials and labor. It’s energy, housing, medicine, machines, and food. If you can’t do those things, you’re not wealthy. You’re dependent. You’re fragile. And eventually, you’re irrelevant.</p><h2 style="font-family: "SF Pro Display", -apple-system-headline, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; margin: 1em 0px 0.625em; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 1.16em; font-size: 1.625em;" class=""><strong class="">What Do We Actually Still Make? Not Much.</strong></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">Now you’ll get some neoliberal pundits, Ezra Klein types, who say: “Actually, the U.S. still makes more than ever!” But you dig into it and see what we’re really making, and it’s mostly chemicals, refined oil, some semiconductors, and processed food. That’s the bulk of it.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">You wanna know what we don’t make? Damn near everything else.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">The machines we use to drill oil—we don’t make most of those. The parts for our power grid? Imported. The chips for our computers and weapons? Mostly made in Asia. The precursors for pharmaceuticals? China and India. We couldn’t rebuild our grid, restock our hospitals, or sustain our own military if the rest of the world stopped answering the phone.</p><div style="line-height: 26px; margin: 32px auto;" class=""><figure style="width: 550px; margin: 0px auto;" class=""><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""></td><td align="left" width="1456" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""><a rel="" href="https://substack.com/redirect/22bcfc22-0732-490f-84cc-1eac2827c893?j=eyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/22bcfc22-0732-490f-84cc-1eac2827c893?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k&source=gmail&ust=1744118693732000&usg=AOvVaw1Kfty5JYu8uqxx3yGZ7SOm" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); padding: 0px; width: auto; height: auto; border: none; text-decoration: none; display: block; margin: 0px;" class=""><img alt="" title="" class="CToWUd" data-bit="iit" style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; border: none !important;" apple-inline="yes" id="78F79A7A-190A-44E1-B690-1D3F95B7B4FF" src="cid:F669D096-D3B9-4906-BE9D-B87037789D9F@hsd1.pa.comcast.net."></a></td><td style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""></td></tr></tbody></table></figure></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">Even in industries where we still technically “manufacture,” most of the value is added overseas. We import the guts of the machine, bolt the shell together here, and call it “Made in America.” It’s manufacturing role-playing.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">We’ve become addicted to a version of “manufacturing” that’s mostly branding, packaging, and accounting tricks. But somehow, we think we’re still indispensable to the rest of the world. It’s wild and it’s how nations fail.</p><h3 style="font-family: "SF Pro Display", -apple-system-headline, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; margin: 1em 0px 0.625em; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 1.16em; font-size: 1.375em;" class=""><strong class="">The System Didn’t Fail—It Was Built This Way</strong></h3><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">Let’s be clear: this didn’t just happen. This wasn’t some accident of global markets or natural evolution. This was the result of choices—decades of deliberate policy decisions. It wasn’t a failure. It was a design.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">The hollowing out started long before NAFTA. Nixon cracked the door open. Carter nudged it further. Reagan blew it off the hinges. But NAFTA—that was the moment the Democratic Party didn’t just go along with the destruction—they championed it. That’s why it hurt so bad. Not just because of the jobs it destroyed, but because of <em class="">who</em> did it.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">It wasn’t Reagan. It wasn’t Bush. It was Bill Clinton.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">The supposed defender of working people handed corporate America a knife, pointed it at the heart of industrial America, and told the rest of us, “You’ll be fine.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">NAFTA didn’t just shift jobs to Mexico—it detonated regional economies. China’s entry into the WTO didn’t just “open up trade”—it obliterated entire sectors and made us dependent on a geopolitical rival for the goods that keep modern life running. And all of it was sold to us by the same people who spent 40 years preaching the gospel of global capital: Milton Friedman, Alan Greenspan, the Chicago School crew, and the bipartisan elite that followed them—Clinton, Obama, Biden.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">They bought into the fantasy of a “managerial economy,” where America would design, brand, and consult, and the rest of the world would do the building. But you can’t eat consulting. You can’t power a grid with branding.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">We weren’t screwed by China or Mexico. We were screwed by our own people.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">We were sold out by our business leaders, our think tanks, our economists, our politicians and our chambers of commerce—by people who thought working with your hands was beneath them, who thought industry was outdated, who assumed the rest of the world would never catch up. And when they gutted our communities, they had the balls to tell working people we were “nostalgic”—like wanting a solid union job with benefits was some kind of personal weakness.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">Since 1975, the top 10% in this country have siphoned off <strong class=""><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/47c76358-8853-4e00-96b6-2687e6f687be?j=eyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k" rel="" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/47c76358-8853-4e00-96b6-2687e6f687be?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k&source=gmail&ust=1744118693732000&usg=AOvVaw2GAPKb8OYRaX-Pm2VtCca_" style="color: rgb(54, 55, 55);" class="">$79 trillion</a></strong> in productivity and value from the bottom 90%. That’s not “market efficiency.” That’s theft. That’s hundreds of millions of Americans doing the work and getting none of the reward. It’s generational robbery—and we’re still living in the wreckage.</p><div style="line-height: 26px; margin: 32px auto;" class=""><figure style="width: 550px; margin: 0px auto;" class=""><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""></td><td align="left" width="1416" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""><a rel="" href="https://substack.com/redirect/1a503df7-8465-43af-904b-27d9a19956e6?j=eyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/1a503df7-8465-43af-904b-27d9a19956e6?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k&source=gmail&ust=1744118693732000&usg=AOvVaw3tJpzz5eY_pugNh1KhNVZE" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); padding: 0px; width: auto; height: auto; border: none; text-decoration: none; display: block; margin: 0px;" class=""><img alt="" title="" class="CToWUd" data-bit="iit" style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; border: none !important;" apple-inline="yes" id="EA1BF4B0-143E-41EA-B208-03EB3FEC257E" src="cid:AB51E5F2-658B-4C03-9A3E-D2A1EE478B77@hsd1.pa.comcast.net."></a></td><td style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""></td></tr></tbody></table></figure></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">And this isn’t just an American problem—it’s global. The Western elite aligned itself with a system that rewards extraction over production, finance over labor, consulting over building. Across the world, the people doing the work are getting squeezed while the people doing the skimming get rich.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class=""><strong class="">It didn’t fail. It worked—just not for three hundred million or so of us.</strong></p><h2 style="font-family: "SF Pro Display", -apple-system-headline, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; margin: 1em 0px 0.625em; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 1.16em; font-size: 1.625em;" class=""><strong class="">Trump Saw the Fire and Grabbed a Can of Gas </strong></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">Now, here comes Trump. And he says, “You’ve been screwed. They’ve been laughing at us. China’s winning. America doesn’t make anything anymore.” And the thing is—<strong class="">he’s not wrong about the diagnosis.</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">But his solutions? It's dumb as hell.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">A bunch of random ass tariffs on everything with zero plan to rebuild industrial capacity? That’s just setting the house on fire and calling it a renovation.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">This is a guy who wants you to believe America has been helpless and innocent, a big victim getting taken advantage of by mean foreigners. Bullshit. <strong class="">The American people have been taken advantage of, yes—but not by China not by immigrants.</strong> By the Chamber of Commerce and CEOs. By our own institutions. By our own leadership.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">Trump isn’t offering a fix. He’s offering a tantrum. He slapped tariffs on China in 2018 and the trade deficit <em class="">still</em> hit record highs. Because you can’t just tax your way into a manufacturing renaissance. You have to build. And that takes vision, capital, training, infrastructure, and coordination.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">Tariffs without rebuilding are just a tax by another name.</p><h2 style="font-family: "SF Pro Display", -apple-system-headline, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; margin: 1em 0px 0.625em; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 1.16em; font-size: 1.625em;" class=""><strong class="">The Dollar’s Only Good As Long As We Are</strong></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">The only reason this house of cards hasn’t collapsed yet is because the dollar is still the world’s reserve currency. That means we can print money, run deficits, and import everything we consume—and the world keeps accepting our IOUs.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">But that’s not eternal. Countries are already moving off the dollar. BRICS is doing trade in yuan. Nations are settling oil in other currencies. The dollar’s share of global reserves has been sliding for 20 years.</p><div style="line-height: 26px; margin: 32px auto;" class=""><figure style="width: 550px; margin: 0px auto;" class=""><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""></td><td align="left" width="1456" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""><a rel="" href="https://substack.com/redirect/3e12cae2-e6ab-4abe-aa22-068624cdc345?j=eyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/3e12cae2-e6ab-4abe-aa22-068624cdc345?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k&source=gmail&ust=1744118693732000&usg=AOvVaw3TORxM1GiiAP_BoY4pW2S-" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); padding: 0px; width: auto; height: auto; border: none; text-decoration: none; display: block; margin: 0px;" class=""><img alt="" title="" class="CToWUd" data-bit="iit" style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; border: none !important;" apple-inline="yes" id="99A9E545-3F29-4608-AE89-9866FC2BF48F" src="cid:07A1DC9B-930B-4D04-8DF2-51EA07BC3C70@hsd1.pa.comcast.net."></a></td><td style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""></td></tr></tbody></table></figure></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">Why? Because we’ve stopped being useful. We don’t make the stuff. We don’t supply the tools. We don’t offer the capacity. All we offer is market access, military muscle, and financial systems.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">When that’s all you’ve got, and someone else shows up with something real—the world moves on.</p><h2 style="font-family: "SF Pro Display", -apple-system-headline, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; margin: 1em 0px 0.625em; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 1.16em; font-size: 1.625em;" class=""><strong class="">If We Want to Matter, We Have to Be Useful Again</strong></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">We need to return to being useful. Not just to ourselves, but to the world.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">Useful doesn’t mean sending troops or supporting genocide. It doesn’t mean floating debt. It means building systems, producing goods, solving real problems. It means becoming a country that makes the machines that run the world again.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">If you can’t make your own power grid components, you’re not sovereign. If you can’t produce your own pharmaceuticals, you’re not safe. If your food comes from global supply chains and your military depends on rare earths from a rival, you’re not strong.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">Manufacturing is not nostalgia. It’s power. It’s independence. It’s leverage. And it’s how you build a future that’s not built on hope and spreadsheets.</p><div style="line-height: 26px; margin: 32px auto;" class=""><figure style="width: 550px; margin: 0px auto;" class=""><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""></td><td align="left" width="1278" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""><a rel="" href="https://substack.com/redirect/751c85a3-cfb1-405e-beed-0eec3190c3be?j=eyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/751c85a3-cfb1-405e-beed-0eec3190c3be?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k&source=gmail&ust=1744118693732000&usg=AOvVaw3pv1wg_pf9jxZ5nsBni1rf" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); padding: 0px; width: auto; height: auto; border: none; text-decoration: none; display: block; margin: 0px;" class=""><img alt="" title="" class="CToWUd" data-bit="iit" style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; border: none !important;" apple-inline="yes" id="EB465E26-4A37-41CD-B2BA-683352075956" src="cid:41ED10E0-CC68-49DD-B501-BD157A82AFCC@hsd1.pa.comcast.net."></a></td><td style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" class=""></td></tr></tbody></table></figure></div><h2 style="font-family: "SF Pro Display", -apple-system-headline, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; margin: 1em 0px 0.625em; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 1.16em; font-size: 1.625em;" class=""><strong class="">This Is a National Project</strong></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">There’s a growing movement of people who get this. Who know that food doesn’t come from the grocery store, and that power doesn’t come from flipping a switch. That copper matters. That machine tools matter. That the ability to fabricate, refine, and assemble things on your own soil is what makes a country independent.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">For too long, our greatest export has been force. We’ve been the Western world’s bouncer—showing up with aircraft carriers to defend capital, not democracy. But what if we became the builder again? What if the world respected us not because of our weapons, but because we made the tools that powered progress?</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">That’s the opportunity. That’s the mission.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class=""><strong class="">We’re not out of time. But the clock is ticking. And if we don’t wake up to how fragile this whole arrangement is, we’re going to find ourselves holding a lot of paper wealth in a world that doesn’t care.</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">It’s time to compete. Time to build. Time to matter again.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">And it’s going to take people in power who actually understand this—who know we need to build, not brand. Who aren’t defending the system that got us here but are ready to tear it out at the root and replace it with something that works.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class=""><strong class=""><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/87916467-4bb3-469b-a6c4-d99f47276a5d?j=eyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k" rel="" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/87916467-4bb3-469b-a6c4-d99f47276a5d?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k&source=gmail&ust=1744118693732000&usg=AOvVaw38S7-JKzir47wOMWDdA_qn" style="color: rgb(54, 55, 55);" class="">That’s why I want you to check out Saikat Chakrabarti.</a></strong> He’s a friend of mine. Co-founded Justice Democrats. Helped build the Green New Deal. And now he’s running against Nancy Pelosi. Not because one seat changes everything—but because the ideas he’s pushing can.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class="">He’s not just talking about decline—he’s offering a blueprint to fix it and asking candidates to join him. He gets what this post is about. He’s leading the fight to build something new.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; color: rgb(54, 55, 55); line-height: 26px;" class=""><strong class=""><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/928873b6-8d3e-494b-8cc7-4709d3056eda?j=eyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k" rel="" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/928873b6-8d3e-494b-8cc7-4709d3056eda?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNWc1bmRmIn0.IemzfYU7xWpFZDSj8oxrGXUnIPMzV99pY-QXOMuRj0k&source=gmail&ust=1744118693732000&usg=AOvVaw3R_47JLX4_qbtfLCBpSL1G" style="color: rgb(54, 55, 55);" class="">Check it out here.</a></strong></p></div></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></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="">
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