Democratic Senators Introduce Bill to Use Duties in New FTAs for Labor, Environmental Concerns
Environmental standards and labor issues must be part of future free-trade agreements, and countries that pay "sub-standard wages" and have substandard environmental practices should be subject to "antidumping" duties, say Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. The two introduced S. 2566, the Level the Playing Field in Global Trade Act of 2018, on March 15.
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They said their bill is a smarter way to deal with unfair trade in steel and aluminum, because it "takes a targeted approach to crack down specifically on countries that are unfairly subsidizing their products through rock-bottom wages and substandard environmental practices." However, the ability to use antidumping duties to address wages and environmental standards would only apply to trade agreements signed after the bill passed. "If we don’t make things in America, we won’t have a middle class in America,” Merkley said. “In the past 20 years, we’ve lost tens of thousands of factories and millions of jobs -- and unfair trade practices have been a large factor driving this decline. But we need a real strategy to take on unfair trade, not just a talking point from President Trump."
Companies that meet high standards on wages, workplace safety and environmental compliance would be rewarded "with streamlined trade and protection from enforcement actions," the senators said in a joint release. The bill is supported by the United Steelworkers and the AFL-CIO.
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