Northwest Labor Press is an independent union-supported newspaper founded in 1900. Our print version is mailed twice a month to about 45,000 members of over three dozen local unions in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Our online version has been maintained here since 1997.
Trade
A giant sucking sound. That’s what 1992 independent U.S. presidential candidate Ross Perot warned that North Americans would hear if the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) became law—the sound of jobs leaving the United States as companies chase lower wages overseas. He wasn’t wrong. Since the passage of NAFTA and a dozen other trade agreements modeled on NAFTA, millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost, and annual trade deficits have soared.
To be clear, the trade agreements don’t themselves cause offshoring and trade imbalances. U.S.-based companies were already moving manufacturing to Mexican maquiladoras before NAFTA passed in 1993. And American brands were already using Chinese factories before Congress passed Permanent Normal Trade Relations in 2000 and supported China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
What these agreements do is grease the skids. By harmonizing rules, they reduce the costs of offshoring and make easier for investors to move operations from one country to another. It’s a betrayal, and American workers have paid the price.
Unpacking Trump’s Trade War
Lori Wallach is one of America’s foremost experts on trade policy. The Labor Press spoke with her via Zoom.
A trade war with Canada?
Canadian unionists and citizens react with shock to Trump’s threatened 25% tariffs and decry tariff saber-rattling.
Remembering the Seattle WTO protest
25 years ago, unionists and greens made history in the streets of Seattle protesting against corporate-written rules for international trade.
Blumenauer’s final stand: Cutting back a trade loophole
Nearly a billion packages were mailed directly and duty free from China to U.S. consumers last year, some containing narcotics.
U.S. trade deficit hit new record in 2022
Both exports and imports of goods and services rose, but imports rose more in 2022, breaking a record for the second year in a row.
U.S. trade deficit at highest level ever
America’s annual trade deficit—the amount by which imports are greater than exports—jumped 27% in 2021 to a new record, $859.1 billion.
Trump’s new NAFTA labor rules to be tested
Better than NAFTA, but how real are the labor rights provisions that were added to Trump's trade treaty with Mexico and Canada? A new filing by the national AFL-CIO aims to find out.
Biden’s new trade enforcers
The Biden Administration continues to name union figures to top government positions. The latest two appointments will oversee trade policy.
AFL-CIO applauds Biden pick for trade representative
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Katherine Tai’s appointment is a stark departure from the failed NAFTA-style trade policy.
House passes NAFTA re-write
It's the first major change to NAFTA since the three-nation trade agreement first took effect 25 years ago.
AFL-CIO endorses Trump’s revised re-write of NAFTA trade treaty
For the first time in a generation, NAFTA is getting a re-write, and even America’s premier trade union federation has endorsed the final draft.
Looking back on the Battle in Seattle
It’s been 20 years since the Seattle WTO protests. The corporate trade agenda has never recovered.
Trump’s new NAFTA: Is America’s trade policy at a crossroads?
When Portland Congressman Earl Blumenauer learned he’d be the new chair of a House trade subcommittee, the first call he made was to Oregon AFL-CIO president Tom Chamberlain.
An end to NAFTA?
A new two-nation trade deal with Mexico could take the place of the three-nation agreement known as NAFTA.
Untangling Trump’s trade policy
Given Trump’s habit of contradictory statements, tweeted policy announcements and reversals, and personal spats with foreign heads of state, it can be hard to keep up.
AFL-CIO applauds Trump for imposing tariffs on foreign steel, aluminum
The tariffs take effect March 23.
America’s trade deficit soars in Trump’s first year
The goods deficit with China hit a new record in 2017.
Interfaith Worker Justice releases report on Mondelēz decision to shift production to Mexico
Faith group says owners of the iconic Oreo brand treat working people like a commodity.
Trump NAFTA proposal: End corporations’ right to sue governments
When it comes to trade policy, an administration that has otherwise sided almost wholly with business lobbies is listening, a little, to organized labor.
Trump does NAFTA
Despite what Trump says, NAFTA is not a failed trade agreement. Written by and for the benefit of corporate elites, it's a resounding success — for them.
