Stopping the Race to the Bottom in Trade Policy
With the confirmation of Katherine Tai as President Biden’s new U.S. trade representative expected in the coming days, will we see a new approach to trade? In her confirmation hearing, Tai acknowledged that trade had failed to “bring up standards with respect to workers and environmental protection,” instead often producing “a race to the bottom.”
Tai’s nomination received bipartisan support, including from progressive Democrats who gave her high marks for her earlier work to strengthen labor and environmental provisions in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaced NAFTA. She also helped win the elimination of investor-state dispute settlement, which allows corporations to sue governments over rules that threaten their profits.
But Tai will face an early test from Mexico, which on New Year’s Eve issued a presidential decree banning the cultivation and importation of genetically modified (GM) corn and phasing out the use of the herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer/Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. Under pressure from industry, Tai’s predecessor, Robert Lighthizer, last year warned the Mexican government not to take such actions, and threatened to sue Mexico under the new trade agreement.
Tai will no doubt face similar pressure. The question is: Will she accept Mexico’s actions as legitimate attempts to stop the race to the bottom in the areas of public health and the environment? Or will she use the USMCA to impede Mexico’s ability to protect its citizens?
Read more: https://prospect.org/economy/stopping-the-race-to-the-bottom-in-trade-policy/
(American Prospect)
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