Obama’s New Trade Enforcement Measures a Welcome First Step

by James Parks, Jul 16, 2009

The Obama administration unveiled new trade enforcement measures aimed at saving jobs and creating new jobs in the United States by leveling the global playing field for American workers and businesses. 

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, speaking today at a U.S. Steel plant in Braddock, Pa., near Pittsburgh, said the administration is committed to better enforcement of America’s trade laws, including workers’ rights around the world. 

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney praised the commitment to better oversight and enforcement of trade laws.

This is a welcome and long-overdue initiative, and we look forward to working with USTR, Commerce and Labor, among others, to identify and address unfair trade practices that disadvantage domestic producers and workers. 

We hope this is only a first installment in President Obama’s pledge to reform our flawed trade policies, however. Enforcement is crucial, but we also need to revisit and strengthen our trade policies and trade laws if we are to rebuild our economy with a vibrant and thriving manufacturing sector. 

Sweeney added that President Obama’s ambitious economic recovery agenda will not succeed if the nation continues to run enormous trade deficits, borrowing from the rest of the world to fund consumption and asset bubbles.

United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard said Kirk’s speech

identified that trade enforcement is a priority, and it’s about time. Our government must ensure that the products of our manufacturers and farmers have access to foreign markets and are not forced to compete with unfairly subsidized or dumped products here at home. The success of the USTR’s speech and the policy he intends to implement will be measured in the days ahead by the number of jobs that are created.

The key measures Kirk outlined today include:

• Steps to spot and address trade barriers, particularly those affecting America’s agricultural producers and manufacturers, such as rules restricting U.S. agricultural exports and technical barriers that impede our producers’ ability to trade worldwide.
• Increased coordination with the departments of State, Labor, Commerce, Agriculture and other federal agencies to spot and respond to trade barriers.
• A commitment to closer observation of foreign labor practices and redress of substandard practices that tilt the playing field away from U.S. workers in violation of labor obligations in our trade agreements.

Kirk said, “America’s workers need to know that this administration has their backs in the global trading system.”

These new enforcement measures will help Americans to receive the benefits promised by our existing trade agreements—the better-paying jobs and economic growth that come home to America when our partners keep their commitments to trade fairly with the U.S. 

Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), says the initiative is

welcome news for those U.S. manufacturers and their employees who have seen a  flood of imports flow into our market, often aided by subsidies and other unfair practices by their governments.

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