The Wall Street Journal reports that the Trump Administration has developed a new draft policy deemphasizing the role that the World Trade Organization plays in trade enforcement. Instead, the Administration would rely more aggressively on U.S. law and “all possible sources of leverage to encourage other countries to open up their markets.” The draft document outlining this strategy could be released as early as today. In his speech to Congress on Tuesday, President Trump said, “I believe strongly in free trade, but it also has to be fair trade. It’s been a long time since we had fair trade.” Trade was a popular issue for President Trump in his campaign, and he vowed to be tougher on enforcement. Read more here.
While some workers in the U.S. have celebrated the United States’ withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the New York Times published an article focusing on the workers who fear that the United States’ departure from the agreement could lead to an abandonment of labor and environmental commitments in TPP countries. Do Thi Minh Hanh, a Vietnamese labor activist, fears that “[t]he Vietnamese government will use this as an excuse to suppress the labor movement” because “[t]hey never wanted to have independent unions in Vietnam.” The United States and Vietnam had a side agreement, or consistency plan, to ensure compliance with certain basic labor standards including criminalizing forced labor and the elimination of a government ban on independent unions. While critics of these protections have maintained that they are largely ineffectual, some proponents including law professor David A. Gantz, an expert on international trade agreements, argue that the provisions in the TPP “might have made a real difference.”
Uber continued to make headlines when a video of Travis Kalanick, Uber founder and CEO, arguing with an Uber driver, Fawzi Kamel, became public. Responding to Kamel’s contention that Uber has slashed rates for drivers, Kalanick told Kamel that he needs to “take responsibility” for his own issues. Yesterday, in a memo to workers at Uber, Kalanick stated that “[i]t’s clear this video is a reflection of me” and “the criticism we’ve received is a stark reminder that I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up.” The video’s release and Kalanick’s apology comes shortly after former-Uber engineer Susan Fowler published a blog post exposing sexism at the company, which garnered significant media attention. In an optimistic New York Times piece, Farhad Manjoo opines that the Uber scandal “feels like a watershed” and predicts a change in the treatment of women in tech. In an industry where Fowler’s complaints ring true for many, diversity advocates suggest that the recent actions by Uber to address the incident are only the beginning.
Veronica Escobar, an El Paso County Judge, authored an op-ed in the New York Times, describing how President Trump’s immigration policies could harm the U.S. and in particular, her community of El Paso. She highlighted the jobs created by cross-border trade and the contributions of dreamers, undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children, to the U.S. economy. She says that if given work authorization, dreamers are estimated to increase government revenues by $2.3 billion. Read more here.
