Thread by @ChadBown

In @ForeignAffairs, USTR Robert E. Lighthizer recently wrote that President Trump “has sought to balance the benefits of trade liberalization with policies that prioritize the dignity of work.”

I disagreed. I disagreed so strongly, I wrote down why. 1/
foreignaffairs.com/articles/unite…

Lighthizer argues Trump imposed tariffs on steel & aluminum in 2018 to dignify work of Americans who make metals.

The claim is revisionist history. And by imposing tariffs, Trump & Lighthizer chose to pit one working American against another. 2/

econofact.org/will-steel-tar…

Lighthizer legitimately identifies “market-distorting state capitalism” as a significant challenge facing the US.

But in contrast to his predecessors, Trump chose a one-pronged, unilateral approach to China.

Tariffs. With very little to show of it. 3/
piie.com/research/piie-…

Trump has also made the WTO a bogeyman.

Lighthizer presents no credible evidence that WTO jurisprudence has cost American jobs, because there is none.

And evidence of Trump’s own destructive policies should put to rest any claims that the WTO "undermines US sovereignty." 4/

Like many before him, Lighthizer too over-inflates the importance of trade policy for what American workers really need.

And Trump's DOMESTIC policy choices have not helped American workers... 5/

Lighthizer expresses concern over America's increasing “deaths of despair”?

Trump has persistently tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act and take health insurance away from more than 20+ million Americans. 6/

nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/…

Lighthizer rewrote trade rules to benefit a handful of autoworkers?

Yet, Trump made no attempt to increase the federal minimum wage affecting 1.6 million other American workers.

(It remains stuck at $7.25 per hour, having fallen by 5% in real terms since 2016.) 7/

Lighthizer complains about Mexico’s lax labor laws?

Trump’s appointments to the National Labor Relations Board sought to obstruct American workers from unionizing. 8/

wsj.com/articles/labor…

The AFL-CIO represents 55 labor unions and more than 12.5 million active and retired American workers.

Interestingly, the AFL-CIO came out with an early endorsement of Joe Biden. It promised to campaign against Trump in the 2020 presidential election. 9/

aflcio.org/press/releases…

For policy priorities that really matter to the American workers, trade policy was simply not the answer.

ENDS /

foreignaffairs.com/articles/unite…

Here is Ambassador Lighthizer's original @ForeignAffairs essay, the one that inspired my piece. I disagreed with it, but it is definitely worth a careful read.

foreignaffairs.com/articles/unite…