At Local Town Hall, Workers Call for Big Changes to USMCA and a New Course for U.S. Trade Policy
ALLENTOWN, PA – Union members, retirees, and small business owners turned out in droves to attend a town hall meeting to demand changes to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is up for review this summer, and to share ideas for a bold new blueprint for trade policy.
Public Citizen, a national consumer advocacy and watchdog group with 1,000,000 members nationwide, hosted the town hall on trade and tariffs with the United Autoworkers Local 677, Teamsters Local 623, and the Citizens Trade Campaign, to discuss unfair trade and economic policies that have harmed working people for decades.
This event came just hours after Rep. Rosa DeLauro introduced the Fair Trade for Working Families Resolution, which outlines a worker-centered trade policy with ten key priorities, including strong and enforceable labor, wage, and environmental standards. The resolution is endorsed by Public Citizen, United Steelworkers, United Autoworkers, Sierra Club, IAM, AFL-CIO, Citizens Trade Campaign, Rethink Trade, NETWORK Lobby, and the National Family Farm Coalition.
Photos are available for publication. For video, email gtwinfo [at] citizen.org.
“We need a bipartisan commitment to closing the exploitable loopholes embedded in past and current trade agreements that allow corporations to shift production overseas while reaping the benefits of the U.S. market. Fixing these gaps is essential to rebuilding domestic manufacturing and restoring economic security for working families.”
– Mike Shupp, president of UAW Local 677
“The age of cheap consumer goods from abroad, offered as a sop for low wages, is over. We need to move beyond globalization. To do that, we need to fix the USMCA to focus on North American workers and stop the bleeding of manufacturing jobs.”
– Dustin Guastella, director of operations, Teamsters Local 623
“U.S. trade policy has failed American workers, farmers, small businesses, and consumers for decades, and the current chaotic tariff policy is only making things worse. We need instead to use access to the U.S. market strategically and in favor of working families.”
– Thea Lee, labor economist and former Deputy Undersecretary
for International Labor Affairs at the Department of Labor from 2021 to 2025
“Decades of corporate-driven trade deals have been a disaster for Pennsylvania’s working families, and the promised fixes on jobs, wages, and balanced trade still haven’t come. We deserve a new model for trade that finally puts the interests of working people and communities ahead of billionaire CEOs.”
– Arthur Stamoulis, executive director, Citizens Trade Campaign
“We need to cut the crap and get serious about what’s needed to fix our broken trade deals. We can’t deliver for working people while billionaires are writing the rules. If we’re not fighting corporate power, we’re not going to put good jobs back in these communities.”
– Ryan Harvey, Global Trade Watch field director at Public Citizen
Remaining stops on the “Building a Fair Economy for All Tour” include:
- Pittsburgh, Penn. – May 26
- Dayton, Ohio – May 27
- Chicago, Ill. – June 15
- Mt. Horeb, Wis. – June 16
- Erie, Penn. – June 17