The outgoing USTR helped shape the modern Democratic Party’s views on trade.
The Biden administration will take office this weekend, and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will also step down. Her tenure was notable for the transformative ways that characterized her work. As she likes to put it, “worker-centered trade policy.” It’s an approach that has yielded significant trade enforcement results for workers, including preemptively imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
USTR was also notable for its accomplishments. do not have do: No free trade agreements were proposed or negotiated during her term, a welcome respite for factory workers hurt by decades of free trade that decimated American manufacturing. It was.
The Biden team knew what they were getting by choosing Tai. Prior to joining President Biden’s USTR, she served as a Congressional staffer and was instrumental in ensuring that enforceable labor standards were included in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which went into effect in 2019. Specifically, the USMCA included “facility-specific rapid labor standards.” The Responsive Labor Mechanism (RRM) allows workers in all three countries to hold companies accountable when they move production overseas in search of unreasonably cheap labor, and the U.S. government It is allowed. take enforcement action Oppose individual factories that deny workers the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining under Mexican law.
Under Tai’s leadership, the United States subsequently activated its rapid response mechanism. dozens of timesand in many cases it has worked, helping Mexican workers who were fired for their union activity get their jobs back. Tai argued this is important because Mexico’s highly exploitable workforce also puts pressure on U.S. workers. Her office recognized the link between trade and labor rights and established RRM as a tool adopted by the USTR.
Domestically, she has worked to demonstrate that trade policy is a concern for all Americans. She or members of her office visited all 50 states, interacting with industry representatives as well as labor unions and advocacy groups, bringing a myriad of perspectives into her decision-making.
Her efforts took her to Coatesville, Pennsylvania, where she was assisted. Steelworkers’ efforts This is to keep the oldest continuously operating steel mill in the country open amidst a series of unfair imports.
That has led her to influence President Biden’s decisions to maintain and possibly expand Section 301 Tariffs Concerning a series of unfair transactions involving semiconductors, EVs, and other products imported from China.
it brought her November 2023 AAM visits Detroit-based watchmaker and product producer Shinola to celebrate 10th anniversaryth Anniversary of AAM’s annual Made in America Holiday Gift Guide.
it’s her AAM office Last fall, she spoke about the importance of strong domestic supply chains. Her office compiled feedback from these stakeholders into a vast amount of data. policy recommendations How to leverage U.S. trade enforcement tools to promote supply chain resiliency. This is an excellent proposal for the incoming Trump administration to consider as it seeks to strengthen U.S. manufacturing.
Finally, she reached a conclusion regarding an investigation her office conducted into unfair and anticompetitive practices in China’s shipbuilding industry that have been holding back the U.S. maritime industry. Upcoming reports It will launch the Trump administration with the support it needs to take action to help rebuild this critical manufacturing industry.
“We have rewritten the rules around trade and expanded the scope for which trade works,” Tai said recently in his office. social media channels. “We stopped it from being a tool for the rich to get richer and turned it into a tool to lift up workers and grow the middle class everywhere.”
We hope her efforts are lasting and thank her for her leadership in energizing workers and helping transform Democratic thinking on trade policy.
