At Mt. Horeb Town Hall, Workers Call for New Course for U.S. Trade Policy
MT. HOREB, WI – Farmers and small business owners turned out in droves to attend a town hall meeting to demand a bold new blueprint for trade policy.
This event featured conversations with Rep. Mark Pocan, former U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, District 5 Director of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, Kriss Marion, and National Campaigns Director of Mainstreet Alliance Shawn Phetteplace, who spoke directly to Mt. Horeb workers who have been hit hard by unfair trade and economic policies and Trump’s chaotic tariffs.
Photos are available for publication. Video is available upon request.
“For a year and a half, Donald Trump’s tariff policies have been chaotic and impossible to follow. His trade deals have not prioritized working people or small businesses, and any real path forward must address the problems that regular people are facing. I was glad to join Public Citizen at today’s townhall to discuss with Main Street, not Wall Street or their representatives in Washington, the ways we can make our trade system better and stronger for everyday people, not just those at the top.”
-Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02)
“For more than a generation, Washington’s trade policies have treated places like Wisconsin and Illinois as flyover country. That era is over. At the Coalition for New Trade, we’re building a movement to ensure communities like these have a seat at the table because the conversations happening here are the same ones we need to be having across the country about what inclusive, responsible trade actually looks like. Now is the time to fight for the next generation of trade policies and the respect these communities deserve.”
-Ambassador Katherine Tai, former U.S. Trade Representative under President Biden
“Over the years, I’ve been a first-generation organic vegetable farmer, a multi-enterprise farm entrepreneur, and a mentor to many other farmers who wanted to experiment with the sort of businesses I’ve started. From my experience, I can tell you that the absolute worst thing for farmers is more chaos and uncertainty. A shifting policy and economic landscape just adds to the weather and market variables we already navigate. Farmers are by nature and necessity flexible, creative, and adaptable — we’ll adjust to just about any challenge. But when new challenges just keep coming from all directions and changing daily, it’s exhausting and defeating, and that’s why farmers throw in the towel. I really don’t want to live in Wisconsin or the United States with fewer farmers.”
-Kriss Marion, District 5 Director, Wisconsin Farmers Union
“For decades, small business owners and workers have been caught between trade policies that rewarded large corporations for outsourcing jobs and the chaos of tariffs that raise costs without a clear strategy. Main Street businesses need a trade agenda that strengthens domestic manufacturing, supports local supply chains, and creates economic stability for the communities we call home. Workers, farmers, and small business owners are ready for a new approach, one that puts people before corporate profits and gives Main Street a real seat at the table when trade decisions are made.”
-Shawn Phetteplace, National Campaigns Director, Mainstreet Alliance
“Free trade agreements of the past like NAFTA have just about squeezed working people into oblivion, and Trump’s chaotic and corrupt trade policies of today are only making matters worse. The goal of these town hall events is to talk with one another about how our rapidly changing global economy is impacting our communities and also to think big about what we could do if we had an economy designed to protect working people – and what we will need to get there.”
-Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch director at Public Citizen
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