August 18, 2016
By Steven Wishnia and Neal Tepel
Washington, DC – If Hillary Clinton is elected President, major American labor unions want her to nominate a U.S. trade representative who’s more interested in strengthening American manufacturing than doing new trade deals.
Previous administrations’ trade policy, AFL-CIO deputy chief of staff Thea Lee told Politico, has presumed that if “American corporations are profitable and are satisfied and have the mobility and the flexibility to move production wherever they need to and to have their intellectual property rights and their investments protected overseas, that will naturally be good for American economy. And we think that’s proven false. It’s another version of trickle-down economics.” The AFL-CIO would prefer to see a trade representative who fights against currency manipulation and abusive labor practices, and it definitely wants Clinton to choose someone who doesn’t come from Wall Street, Lee added. Read more