<div dir="ltr"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br>From: <strong class="gmail_sendername" dir="auto">Melinda St. Louis</strong> <span dir="auto"><<a href="mailto:mstlouis@citizen.org">mstlouis@citizen.org</a>></span><br>Date: Fri, Jun 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM<br>Subject: IUST: Rep. Sánchez: Trump using trade policy to advance 'xenophobic' agenda<br>To: <a href="mailto:arthur@citizenstrade.org">arthur@citizenstrade.org</a> <<a href="mailto:arthur@citizenstrade.org">arthur@citizenstrade.org</a>><br></div><br><br><div class="msg-8564524517325603163">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Hi Arthur – can you share this with the CTC field list?<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I wanted to flag this new report by Public Citizen and National Partnership for New Americans:
<a href="https://gtwaction.org/exporting-instability-importing-exploitation/" target="_blank">Exporting Instability, Importing Exploitation: The Impacts of U.S. Trade Policy on Migration in Latin America.</a> At the heart of Donald Trump’s increasingly vicious crackdown on
immigrants is the dangerous lie that they are to blame for working people’s frustrations. This new report shows that, in fact, working people at home and abroad have suffered from “free trade” policies –which Trump claims to hate but has no intention of fixing
–and that our broken immigration system facilitates exploitation of migrants forced from their homes when they seek refuge in the United States.
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="m_9180094432578321338MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><a href="https://gtwaction.org/exporting-instability-importing-exploitation/" target="_blank">Read</a> and share the report on social media</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">:
<a href="https://x.com/PCGTW/status/1938321891422261631" title="https://x.com/pcgtw/status/1938321891422261631" target="_blank">
<span style="color:#1e53a3">X</span></a>. <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/pcgtw.bsky.social/post/3lsjuzgvma22b" title="https://bsky.app/profile/pcgtw.bsky.social/post/3lsjuzgvma22b" target="_blank">
<span style="color:#1e53a3">BSKY</span></a>, <a href="https://www.threads.com/@pcglobaltradewatch/post/DLYGUGsyr8g?xmt=AQF0rnsTAr1qxwxFwhoqI3e86n__HB13fmEC1bnkdgUUrQ" title="https://www.threads.com/@pcglobaltradewatch/post/dlygugsyr8g?xmt=aqf0rnstar1qxwxfwhoqi3e86n__hb13fmec1bnkdguurq" target="_blank">
<span style="color:#1e53a3">Threads</span></a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16dXPwK4HY/" title="https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16dxpwk4hy/" target="_blank">
<span style="color:#1e53a3">Facebook</span></a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DLYGTkRS1Er/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link" title="https://www.instagram.com/p/dlygtkrs1er/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link" target="_blank">
<span style="color:#1e53a3">Instagram</span></a> (coverage in Inside US Trade below)<u></u><u></u></span></li><li class="m_9180094432578321338MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Watch the
<a href="https://www.citizen.org/news/new-report-how-u-s-trade-policy-fuels-mass-migration-and-worker-exploitation/" target="_blank">
recording of the report launch event</a>,</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> featuring Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.), Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Iza Camarillo (Public Citizen), Nicole Melaku (National Partnership for New Americans), Chris Zatratz of
the United Auto Workers, and Yunuen Trujillo of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) -
<u></u><u></u></span></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;background:white"><i><span style="color:#212121">Inside U.S. Trade</span></i><span style="color:#212121"> -
</span><span style="color:#0078d4"> </span><span style="color:black"><a href="https://insidetrade.com/daily-news/rep-s-nchez-trump-using-trade-policy-advance-xenophobic-agenda" target="_blank">https://insidetrade.com/daily-news/rep-s-nchez-trump-using-trade-policy-advance-xenophobic-agenda</a></span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;background:white"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;background:white"><b><span style="color:#212121">Rep. Sánchez: Trump using trade policy to advance 'xenophobic' agenda</span></b><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;background:white"><span style="color:#212121">By Hannah Monicken | June 26, 2025</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;background:white"><span style="color:#212121"> </span><u></u><u></u></p>
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<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">The Trump administration's approach to trade policy goes hand in hand with its hardline approach to immigration, the top Democrat on the House Ways & Means trade subcommittee
argued on Thursday, citing trade actions that exploit workers -- both in the U.S. and abroad -- and exacerbate migration.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">During a webinar hosted by advocacy group Public Citizen that was centered on
</span><b><span style="color:#0059b2"><a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/exporting-instability-importing-exploitation/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0059b2;text-decoration:none">a new report</span></a></span></b><span style="color:#333333"> on trade and migration,
Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA) criticized President Trump’s use of tariffs to “shake down” trading partners and advocated for a “new chapter in our trade policy.” She accused Trump of weaponizing tariffs in favor of “a broader xenophobic agenda.”</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">“We have to stop and ask ourselves, who are his trade policies really working for? Because if they only protect corporations, if they widen inequality and if they ignore human
rights, then they're really not serving American interests,” Sánchez said. “Instead of reforming our trade policies and improving our national security and our trust with other countries, Trump has exacerbated economic pressures abroad while targeting immigrants
to appeal to his MAGA base.”</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">“We need to engage Latin American countries by elevating pro-labor, environmental and indigenous rights policies. Our trade agenda should be a critical role in doing just
that,” she added. “I have spent the past 20 years working on comprehensive immigration reform, always believing that we must address the root causes of migration or we are always going to have people showing up at the southern border.”</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">The report from Public Citizen and the National Partnership for New Americans, titled “</span><b><span style="color:#0059b2"><a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/exporting-instability-importing-exploitation/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0059b2;text-decoration:none">Exporting
Instability, Importing Exploitation</span></a></span></b><span style="color:#333333">,” argues that migration to the U.S. from Latin American countries is a direct consequence of a U.S.-driven trade policy, citing the North American Free Trade Agreement and
the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement in particular.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">“The dominant political narrative portrays migration as a spontaneous crisis rather than a foreseeable outcome of economic policies,” the report says.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">“Workers across borders swiftly and deeply felt the effects of NAFTA and CAFTA. In the United States, they hollowed out manufacturing centers, shuttered factories, and accelerated
job losses in unionized industries,” it adds. “In Latin America, where economic conditions were already fragile, these agreements were even more devastating. They dismantled rural livelihoods, flooded markets with subsidized U.S. agricultural products, and
deepened poverty and inequality. For many across Mexico and Central America, migration was no longer a choice -- it became a matter of survival.”</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">The report takes aim at investor-state dispute settlement provisions -- a longtime frustration for critics of such agreements -- as well as provisions that favored U.S. agricultural
exports over smaller domestic farmers and job gains that failed to materialize to absorb the displaced. Accordingly, the number of undocumented immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala to the U.S. increased by “49%, 122%, and 73%, respectively”
in the decade since CAFTA entered into force, the report notes.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the NAFTA successor that was negotiated and approved by Congress during the first Trump administration, was “a step in the right direction,”
Sánchez said, citing the USMCA rapid-response mechanism designed to respond to labor abuses.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">But more needs to be done, she added, pointing to the first USMCA review set for next year. She noted that because the deal needed approval from Congress and Democrats had
control of the House at the time, negotiators from the party were able to ensure the deal included stronger labor and environmental standards before providing votes for it to pass.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">The second Trump administration, however, has not sought congressional input in its ongoing trade negotiations, Sánchez charged, calling this in line with Trump’s general
overreach on tariffs.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">“We are in a position now where we are looking to the USMCA review that is going to happen next year, and one of the things I have to say is that I'm really concerned that
Congress is not even going to have the opportunity to weigh in to make the needed improvements to USMCA because Trump seems hell-bent on negotiating trade agreements with other countries without seeking congressional approval,” she said. “And again, in the
Constitution, that is our jurisdiction. So, at this point, it's pretty unclear whether the Trump administration is going to push for the necessary improvements to the USMCA agreement.”</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">“Instead,” she added, “they sort of seem to be chasing short-term headlines rather than working out meaningful reforms to our trade policies, and that includes the president's
obsession with tariffs.”</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">United Auto Workers’ Chris Zatratz, during the same event, cited the USMCA review as an “opportunity” to shift trade policy away from corporate interests. USMCA, he argued,
“did not stop the bleeding” for workers, including some in the U.S. The threat of offshoring remains the “number one threat” for U.S. workers at manufacturing plants, he said.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">Accordingly, he said UAW and other unions are pushing for a manufacturing minimum wage in Mexico to be negotiated during the USMCA review.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">“A UAW member at a [General Motors] truck plant in Indiana earns over $30 an hour, while a worker building the exact same truck in Mexico earns just $3 an hour. That is how
trade policy pits workers against each other,” he said. “Free trade policy drives a race to the bottom, to the benefit of corporations and to the detriment of workers.”</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">Speakers during the event -- including Sánchez, Zatratz and Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) -- argued that worker voices should be prioritized over corporate interests in trade talks.
The promised “shared prosperity” of NAFTA and CAFTA-DR, among other deals, did not materialize, but corporations have “profit[ed] at every stage of this crisis,” the report says.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">“It is not immigrants who signed trade deals that devastated American communities and offshored tons of union jobs. No, it was the billionaire class that did that. It was
not immigrants who signed on to trade deals and put in provisions that have been devastating to the local economies of places like Guatemala and Honduras and country after country after country. It was the billionaire class that pushed for those sorts of provisions
in our trade deals,” Casar said.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">“It's so important for us to call out who the real villains are in our politics and then work on real solutions,” he added.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="color:#333333">The report outlines recommendations for such a trade policy: a more “transparent and inclusive” process for its development; required “human rights and displacement” impact
assessments; "strong and binding" labor, environmental and human rights standards, including facility-specific enforcement like the RRM; the protection of governments’ rights to “manage agricultural supplies at fair prices” to protect small farmers; the elimination
of ISDS; and the removal of digital trade provisions that hinder privacy protection and the regulation of “Big Tech” companies, among other prescriptions. --
<i>Hannah Monicken</i> (</span><b><span style="color:#0059b2"><a href="mailto:hmonicken@iwpnews.com" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0059b2;text-decoration:none">hmonicken@iwpnews.com</span></a></span></b><span style="color:#333333">)</span><u></u><u></u></p>
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