Six of the nation’s top labor leaders said Wednesday they found common ground with President Trump during a private meeting on trade issues.
The meeting comes as the U.S. prepares for the seventh round of talks to renegotiate the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement. The talks begin Saturday in Mexico City.
“Labor is united in its view that NAFTA is a disaster for working people and must be fixed. We had a very productive meeting which made clear to the president that a new NAFTA must create fair and balanced trade in North America. Real solutions for any new trade deal must dramatically improve workers’ rights and raise wages and living standards in all three countries,” the labor leaders said in a joint statement.
The leaders were: AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka; International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James P. Hoffa; Communications Workers of America President Chris Shelton; International Association of Machinists President Robert Martinez Jr.; United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard; and United Autoworkers President Dennis Williams.
Labor leaders have been among the fiercest critics of NAFTA, which they argue has sped up outsourcing of jobs and mostly benefited international corporations. It’s a view that Trump has often espoused.
The talks have been strained, with Mexico and Canada rejecting proposals by the Trump administration to add an end clause to the deal and to allow nations to opt-out of the deal’s investor-state dispute settlement system, proposals labor leaders had previously made. Trump and other administration officials have repeatedly said the U.S. would withdraw from the deal altogether if Canada and Mexico do not make concessions.
