The AFL-CIO labor federation and the European Trade Union Confederation issued a joint statement Friday slamming the Trump administration for its recent actions on trade issues, saying it is acting in a reckless manner and destroying the international trade system.
“We support the reform of the multilateral system so that it is more democratic, more open and takes into consideration labor-social-environmental rights, but we oppose efforts to destroy it. The refusal of the Trump administration to engage productively in established multilateral processes at the [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] and the G-7 in recent weeks has been detrimental to the international system and we urge the Trump administration to change course,” the groups said.
At the same time, the groups said they backed efforts to confront China over its trade policies, saying that the existing institutions had failed.
“We are united in support for a concerted approach to China’s trade-distorting practices and in our opposition to a trade war. We believe the failure on the part of multilateral institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) to effectively address China’s trade-distorting practices is a threat to the multilateral system itself and must be addressed,” they said.
The Trump administration formally instituted $50 billion worth of tariffs against China Friday. “My great friendship with President Xi [Jinping] of China and our country’s relationship with China are both very important to me. Trade between our nations, however, has been very unfair, for a very long time. This situation is no longer sustainable,” President Trump said.
China said it will follow through with retaliatory tariffs on a similar amount of goods.
The AFL-CIO has supported Trump on trade issues. When the administration said it was looking into hitting China with tariffs under Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in March, “We agree that now is the time to act. In coordination with allies and as part of comprehensive trade reform, these tariffs will put needed pressure on China to play fair.”
